THE MYSTERY OF MASKS
By
They stare at us from rocks,"" Price begins, drawing us in; then she takes us to a West Bengal village where mask makers prepare for a spring festival. From there, her evocative prose and drawings put us in touch with the potent, dream-shaped; and sometimes humorous ceremonial masks of Africa, North America, Korea, the South Pacific. . . and, thus prepared, we return to the West Bengal festival where ""scenes from the Ramayana"" come to life and, indeed, ""we are carried back"" to the time of the ancient mask makers who ""knew how to change their wearers into spirits, animals, or even into gods.