Wth the same open and provocative approach to
ideas that has distinguished all her writings on
human and social issues and made her one of the most admired
voices in the Women's Movement, the author of
Man's World, Woman's Place and Between Myth and
Morning here ventures boldly into fresh territory. Elizabeth
Janeway leads us to re-examine the nature and uses
of power-"that ambiguous, menacing, much-desired
quality, whose accepted definitions seem to me unsatisfactory."
With striking effect, she chooses to analyze the
power relationship not in terms of the strong (who traditionally
get all the attention), but of the powerless-and
above all of "the oldest, largest and most central group of
human creatures in the wide category of the weak and the
ruled": women.
It is a fascinating approach, and superbly fruitful. We
start with the infant, epitome of the powerless, learning to
impose his or her small will-and in turn developing a
sense of the power structures that will govern later life,
and the lives of others. We examine childhood problems
that range from nightmares to autism-and see how they
are in fact power disorders that help explain similar disorders
elsewhere. (The isolation of an autistic child, deliberately
choosing a destructive self-image and definitions of
life that are simply not true, finds a parallel in the desperate
situation of certain "ordinary" women.) Here are considerations
of dreams as a route into the inner world, "where
the developing self wrestles with the demands made on it
by external reality " . . . of the workings of power within
the political process, from Louis XIII spanked by his tutor
to Lyndon Johnson driven out of office ("the image of
'Big Daddy' became that of the ogre eating his young")
... of the "magic connection" between power and the supernatural,
which tends to validate the idea that the powerful
have a right to their power and suggests why to many
people power is a fearful, even repellent, thing.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The cover says it all!!!!,
By
This review is from: Powers of the Weak (Hardcover)
With the same open and provocative approach to ideas that has distinguished all her writings on human and social issues and made her one of the most admired voices in the Women's Movement, the author of Man's World, Woman's Place and Between Myth and Morning here ventures boldly into fresh territory. Elizabeth Janeway leads us to re-examine the nature and uses of power-"that ambiguous, menacing, much-desired quality, whose accepted definitions seem to me unsatisfactory." With striking effect, she chooses to analyze the power relationship not in terms of the strong (who traditionally get all the attention), but of the powerless-and above all of "the oldest, largest and most central group of human creatures in the wide category of the weak and the ruled": women. It is a fascinating approach, and superbly fruitful. We start with the infant, epitome of the powerless, learning to impose his or her small will-and in turn developing a sense of the power structures that will govern later life, and the lives of others. We examine childhood problems that range from nightmares to autism-and see how they are in fact power disorders that help explain similar disorders elsewhere. (The isolation of an autistic child, deliberately choosing a destructive self-image and definitions of life that are simply not true, finds a parallel in the desperate situation of certain "ordinary" women.) Here are considerations of dreams as a route into the inner world, "where the developing self wrestles with the demands made on it by external reality " . . . of the workings of power within the political process, from Louis XIII spanked by his tutor to Lyndon Johnson driven out of office ("the image of 'Big Daddy' became that of the ogre eating his young")... of the "magic connection" between power and the supernatural, which tends to validate the idea that the powerful have a right to their power and suggests why to many people power is a fearful, even repellent, thing... of the
position of the weak in "extreme conditions"-subjected to despotism, living in prison camps, as rebels or martyrs of "terrorism as theater." Here is rich intellectual adventure crowded with stimulating ideas, carrying us to the conclusion that the powers of the weak are not only real, but central to any attempt to rearrange social relationships in a humane and positive manner. Mrs. Janeway points the ways to such rearrangement, via the key powers that are always available to the "powerless" if they have the courage to use them: disbelief -which begins with a refusal to accept the definition of oneself proclaimed by the strong-and coming together, the readiness to join with others in opposition. She demonstrates how these principles can be put to work in the realm of practical politics-and then takes an exciting leap into what she calls "impractical politics" to show how women, by valuing and expressing their natural talents, can and must reshape and civilize the entire pattern of power. Elizabeth Janeway writes as a woman who sees, with clarity and imagination, how the so-called "women's issues" are in fact issues of power and the misuse of power and hence issues affecting society as a whole. By bringing us to a far more basic and functional understanding of how power really works, Powers of the Weak arms us against its diminishing effects and offers the promise of a better and fairer life for everyone. Elizabeth Janeway is author of Man's World, Woman's Place and Between Myth and Morning, as well as six novels and four children's books. She is a director of the Author's Guild and a trustee of Barnard College. She and her husband, the economist and author Eliot Janeway, live in New York City.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
