QUINTESSENCE: Realizing the Archaic Future A Radical Elemental Feminist Manifesto

Radical feminist Daly's latest expose of the abuses women face at the end of the 20th century, with commentary as though from a reissue half a century hence, remarking on the barbarity of the patriarchal past and the advances her book brought about. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Extending her work in Gyn/Ecology and Pure Lust, Daly here proposes new tools for defusing the weapons of patriarchy. Flashing forward into 2048 via the channelings of a young feminist named Annie, Daly finds that a group of women is planning on publishing a "50th anniversary edition" of Quintessence, which would also mark the 200th anniversary of the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y. This fictional device can be too precious, especially when the channeled author begins dancing with Annie's pets and sighing over the "patriarchal paralysis" of the late 20th century. However, it does present Daly's ideas in an accessible, amusing form. The parts of the book centering around contemporary issues are rife with straight political commentary mixed with fanciful eco-feminism and Daly's inimitable wordplay. With clarity and precision, she discusses the rhetoric of the Promise Keepers, the use of rape by the military in Bosnia and Rwanda, the threat of biological control that cloning could bring and the oppression of women by academia. An associate professor of theology at Boston College, Daly illuminates connections among mythology, religion and sociopolitical events with a piercing gaze and a pointing finger (and New Age-y illustrations by Sudie Rakusin). But she is less effective when her careful speculations careen into stream-of-consciousness manifesto, replete with changing vocabulary and flights from the text's point. For Daly fans, this is a must; others will find that her fast and furious ideas?however "biophilic"?induce a serious theory hangover, and will be content to wait for the 50th-anniversary edition. Illustrations. Editor, Helene Atwan; agent, Jill Kneerim.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Part manifesto, part reverie, Quintessence is the final entry in a trilogy that began with the feminist classic Gyn/Ecology (1978) and includes Pure Lust (1984). As such, it's pure Daly: radical, confrontational, and quixotic. Framing the book is a millennial theme. Daly imagines that a twenty-first-century researcher "conjures" her to discuss the fiftieth anniversary edition of Quintessence. This literary device offers a second level of analysis and a glimpse of Daly's utopia, an all-female continent where parthenogenesis is a social goal and everyone decries the oppressive, technocratic 1990s. Unfortunately, the device also causes weaknesses common in utopian novels: thin narrative, flat characters, and feeble dialogue. Yet Daly's strength--her understanding of language as a weather vane of social process--is evident, as she hyphenates common words ("dis-cover"), capitalizes some ("Be-ing"), demotes others ("christian"), and reclaims still others ("Spinster"). Readers will benefit from reading Gyn/Ecology first; Quintessence is a forceful finale, an elusive and controversial prophecy, and a deeply felt song of "herSelf." Lee Reilly

Daly (Outercourse, LJ 1/93), the quintessential radical feminist, marks her 30th year of writing with the seventh in her series of explosive missals. Presented under the premise of being reissued in 2048, Quintessence centers around a series of "cosmic conversations" between Daly and Anonyma (Annie), a "Foresister of the Future" who is able to engage in trans-temporal communication with Daly back in the 1990s. In these exchanges, Daly documents a litany of male abuses of women and nature. Among the "phalleocentric atrocities" are genocidal rape, sexual mutilation and slavery, patriarchal religious fundamentalism, and postmodern feminist theory and other "mindbinding" tricks of "academentia." Daly delivers her metaphysical call to action using her trademark concocted words and alliterative phrases. This fiery manifesto is recommended for women's studies collections and those readers who are familiar with Daly's previous works and eccentric, exhilarating style.ACarol Ann McAllister, Coll. of William & Mary Lib., Williamsburg, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.