Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (November 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345409876
• ISBN-13: 978-0712657471
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces

From Publishers Weekly Folklore, fairy tales and dream symbols are called onto help restore women’s neglected intuitive and instinctive abilities in thisearthy first book by a Jungian analyst. According to Estes, wolves and womenshare a psychic bond in their fierceness, grace and devotion to mate andcommunity. This comparison defines the archetype of the Wild Woman, a femalein touch with her primitive side and able to rely on gut feelings to makechoices. The tales here, from various cultures, are not necessarily aboutwolves; instead, they illuminate fresh perspectives on relationships, self-image, even addiction. An African tale of twins who baffle a man representsthe dual nature of woman; from the Middle East, a story about a threadbare butsecretly magic carpet shows society’s failure to look beyond appearances.Three brief, ribald stories advocate a playful, open sexuality; other examplessuggest ways to deal with anger and jealousy. At times, Estes’s commentary–inwhich she urges readers to draw upon and enjoy their Wild Woman aspects–ishyperbolic, but overall her widely researched study offers usable advice formodern women. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This textrefers to the Paperback edition. Read more From Kirkus Reviews A feministcounterpart to Iron John–or, how “a healthy woman is much like a wolf.”Est,s, a Jungian analyst, believes that a woman’s wholeness depends on herreturning to the sources of her repressed instinctual nature. To illustratethe ways of the “wild woman,” the author draws on myths, legends, and fairytales from a vast and eclectic range of traditions. This collection of storiesmay well be the most valuable element of the book, which otherwise reads likeunedited transcripts of the workshops Est,s leads to encourage women to returnto their “feral” roots. Each story demonstrates a particular aspect ofwoman’s experience–relationship, creativity, anger, spirituality, etc. Est,sfinds evidence in the most diverse tales of the necessity for women to reclaimtheir wildness. The precise nature of this wildness is difficult to fathom,but, at best, it seems to include a genuine capacity to access feelings and toaccept one’s contradictions, while, at worst, it appears to amount to the kindof self-indulgence that prevailed during the “me” generation. Est,s claimsthat her book is for every woman, “whether you be spicy or somber, regal orroughshod”; but her underlying assumption that every woman is free to abandonwhat holds her back seems ignorant of social and economic realities. Theauthor provides few concrete examples that might help women understand whatshe expects them to do, and her prose abounds in generalizations and oddities(“the ambitious woman…who is heartfelt toward her accomplishments”) thatfurther undermine her credibility and her considerable scholarship. Hortatory,ecstatic, and, ultimately, irritating. — Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates,LP. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Paperback edition. Readmore See all Editorial Reviews