(1939). Psychoanalytic Review, 26:287-288 Lawrence, Josephine. Bow Down to Wood and Stone. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. $2.50. Coupled with penetrating insight and power of imagination, using the power of imagination as it should be used, to vivify characters, Josephine Lawrence tells the story of three righteously “good” women, who spend their lives extracting the last drop of voluptuous gratification out of stewing in their own sacrificial juices. Unlike the biblical offerings, the so-called sacrifices of the three sisters, Seneth, Brosia and Gillian are in the nature of “negotiating a bargain with the Creator” … a kind of trading of minor personal pleasures and conveniences for permission to hold on to childish instincts and fetishes—in most instances a hair shirt of one sort or another. With the exception perhaps of Gillian, the sisters are types rather than individuals, whose problems and immolations appear horribly familiar and all too true to life. On the other hand, this fitting of characters into stereotyped grooves, gives you the impression that [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
