Books & Life by Jan Clausen

From Publishers Weekly
In these essays and reviews, Clausen ( The Prosperine Papers ) raises provocative questions--about feminism, lesbianism, activism and the web of relationships among these and a host of other 'isms.' She pinpoints the potential pitfalls of common assumptions underlying anti-patriarchal poetry of the '70s ('Feminist poetry is useful'; 'individual ego plays a minimal role in its creation'). With lucidity and a welcome sense of humor, Clausen is refreshingly honest: she calls '70s feminism a 'womb/crucible'; she enjoys fiction by men partly because of the 'vacation it provides from ideology'; she describes her difficulties as a 'flommy,' or stepmother, to her lesbian lover's daughter. At times, Clausen's reviews are unfocused; her es says lack political subtlety and ignore her own admonitions (she laments that Doris Lessing is not a feminist). But this decade's worth of writing reflects the growth and evolution of an individ ual as well as a movement.