SOVIET WOMEN: Walking the Tightrope

by Francine du Plessix Gray ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 1990

Here, novelist-essayist Gray chronicles the strengths and bitter limitations of Soviet women as they embrace the promise of glasnost. Raised by Russian matriarchs as a child in Paris, Gray embarked on an investigative mission to the Soviet Union prepared to encounter strong, archetypal women. And indeed she found a few superb examples of independent yet nurturing types: Elvira, a professor and one of the few feminists in the Soviet Union; her travelling companion, Nonna; and Galina Petrovna, a Siberian factory manager with an innate gift for gracious hospitality. More often, however, Gray encountered women who felt oppressed by their lives--by their very power. Under Stalin and under ""The Great Stagnancy"" of Brezhnev, they were simultaneously slighted (gynecological and obstetrical care remain primitive horrors) and urged to procreate--to work and yet to be perfect mothers--while the men in power ignored day-care and their needs in general. Contemporary women, as opposed to their idealistically revolutionary grandmothers, seek to defy the system by staying home with their children. Obsessed with fashion and appearance, Gray found, Soviet women frankly despise their men for their weakness at the same time that they long to live traditional feminine lives (biological determinism is all the rage). Embittered by years of material deprivation and overwork, these women establish de facto matriarchal lineages--often divorced, raising one or two children with the help of their beloved mothers and grandmothers. What do they make of their own contradictions and turmoil? As one Soviet woman put it: ""It is as if our country were one huge room kept for decades in a state of extraordinary and increasing disorder, with no light bulb in the ceiling Then Mikhail Sergeivich Gorbachev comes in and puts in a light bulb, and we finally see the mess."" A first-rate reporting job, offering real insight into the private struggles sparked by the current social upheaval in the East.

Pub Date: March 12, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1990

Categories: NONFICTION