The Hannah story of patience and prayer and commitment.
In the style of 'The Red Tent', Eva Etzioni-Halevy has written 'The Song of Hannah'.
The familiar story of the birth of the prophet Samuel is found in the Tanakh.
In this book, the story is developed into a whole narrative to provide a deeper picture of the singular events.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
More on Marrriage ...
‘The Amateur Marriage’
Anne Tyler, prize winning author, wrote a very long and complicated novel about a marriage and the consequences of a doomed marriage.
Tyler seems to have worked in a frenzy to explain the myriad of difficulties that arise when a marriage without substance proceeds and fails.
When the couple break up, there is a very telling reflection by the wife as she seeks understanding about the fragile nature of her life.
Here’s the reflection.
“ …Once he’d told her, out of the blue, that he’d learned a new phrase from a customer: ‘killing the frog by degrees.’ ‘Guess where it comes from,’ he said.
‘I don’t even know what it means, ‘ Pauline said.
‘It means doing something so gradually that nobody happens to notice. Like reducing the size of a cereal box; that’s what brought it up. ‘The prices stay the same but the boxes get smaller and smaller, ‘ this customer was saying. ‘They’re killing the frog by degrees.’ I said, ‘Excuse me?’ Guess where it comes from.’
‘Where?’
‘Seems if you put a frog in a kettle of water and light a slow flame underneath, the water heats up one degree at a time and the frog doesn’t feel it happening. Finally it dies; never felt a thing.’
…………….
‘You think we’re being killed by degrees, don’t you. Our marriage . And you’re trying to claim that I’m the one who’s doing it’…”
Page 177/178….
Anne Tyler, prize winning author, wrote a very long and complicated novel about a marriage and the consequences of a doomed marriage.
Tyler seems to have worked in a frenzy to explain the myriad of difficulties that arise when a marriage without substance proceeds and fails.
When the couple break up, there is a very telling reflection by the wife as she seeks understanding about the fragile nature of her life.
Here’s the reflection.
“ …Once he’d told her, out of the blue, that he’d learned a new phrase from a customer: ‘killing the frog by degrees.’ ‘Guess where it comes from,’ he said.
‘I don’t even know what it means, ‘ Pauline said.
‘It means doing something so gradually that nobody happens to notice. Like reducing the size of a cereal box; that’s what brought it up. ‘The prices stay the same but the boxes get smaller and smaller, ‘ this customer was saying. ‘They’re killing the frog by degrees.’ I said, ‘Excuse me?’ Guess where it comes from.’
‘Where?’
‘Seems if you put a frog in a kettle of water and light a slow flame underneath, the water heats up one degree at a time and the frog doesn’t feel it happening. Finally it dies; never felt a thing.’
…………….
‘You think we’re being killed by degrees, don’t you. Our marriage . And you’re trying to claim that I’m the one who’s doing it’…”
Page 177/178….
Monday, September 12, 2005
And about marriages ... coming and going
Marriage and concerns …
Recall that Sue Monk Kidd, in her book ‘The Mermaid Chair’, described the uncoupling of the marriage of the main character and her subsequent attempts at rehabilitating the relationship.
In an earlier piece of writing, Kidd speaks of the many separate aspects of a woman’s journey of life. The book is ‘The Dance of the Dissident Daughter’.
Monk says that ‘…A marriage or any relationship between partners is meant to be created and re-created. It is an edifice a couple builds until the day the edifice can no longer hold them and they must bring it down and start again from scratch. And without any of the old assumptions. It’s exactly like Carolyn Heilbrun (Writing a Woman’s Life , 1988) says, all good marriages are remarriages…’ P. 101.
This is much like the cogent analyis in DIane Vaughn's study of marriage and divorce in her book -'Uncoupling'.
Recall that Sue Monk Kidd, in her book ‘The Mermaid Chair’, described the uncoupling of the marriage of the main character and her subsequent attempts at rehabilitating the relationship.
In an earlier piece of writing, Kidd speaks of the many separate aspects of a woman’s journey of life. The book is ‘The Dance of the Dissident Daughter’.
Monk says that ‘…A marriage or any relationship between partners is meant to be created and re-created. It is an edifice a couple builds until the day the edifice can no longer hold them and they must bring it down and start again from scratch. And without any of the old assumptions. It’s exactly like Carolyn Heilbrun (Writing a Woman’s Life , 1988) says, all good marriages are remarriages…’ P. 101.
This is much like the cogent analyis in DIane Vaughn's study of marriage and divorce in her book -'Uncoupling'.
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