AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Dance of the Ariadnes by Sharon Spencer ISBN: 0-9652364-2-0 Publisher: Sky Blue Press Pub. Date: February, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Masterful Blending of Myth and Reality
Comment: Sharon Spencer's novel "Dance of the Ariadnes" tackles the complexities of modern relationships by juxtaposing the lives and desires of two creative women, a Slavic actress, Divna, and a confused American artist, Miranda with the cycle of Greek myths involving Ariadne, Dionysus, Theseus, Phaedra and Hippolytus. Divna has yet to recover from her tempestuous yet now semi-defunct relationship with ex-husband Gypsy folk singer, Dionysios. Miranda, living and painting on Korchula, a small island off the coast of Yugoslavia is confused by the emotions and passions generated from a recent love affair with Dionysios whom she does not know by name, but thinks is a primitive islander.
The two women who are otherwise strangers, meet in Iraklion near King Minos' fabled labyrintine palace; symbolically they dance together on what they think is the dancing-floor of Minos' daughter, Ariadne, and bond as only two women can. As dual faces of the mortal woman turned goddess, they unravel and analyze their snaggled feelings regarding Dioynysios. Simultaneously, they form klews containing the threads of their own existence which enable and enpower them to wind through the Labyrinth of their future lives.
Throughout the novel, the women change faces. Miranda is always Ariadne, at once abandoned by Theseus and thus captivated and immortalized by the god Dionysus (the symphonic and colorful gypsy wedding).
Earthy Divna also personifies Ariadne; but it is she who abandons, she who is most generous with her love and understanding of the passions of the others around her. She toys with love; her boy-toys are numerous, yet, she is also imprisoned by Dionysus--she has his children and carries yet another child. Towards the end of the novel, she becomes Phaedra, Ariadne's sister and wife of Theseus. As in the myth, she becomes irrationally enamoured by Gerard--Hippolytus, Theseus son by the Amazon Antiope, but the association has no happy ending,Phaedra/Divna/Ariadne emerges from the experience (an intense water sequence reminiscient of the 'white bull' death of Hippolytus) still carrying her child and her memories.
The flow of the novel is quick and light. The reader senses the passion of both women in the erotic dream, reverie and reality sequences which never bore. The novel always intrigues and teases; the reader is curious about both women and the man that touches both their lives. Spenser succeeds admirably in creating a sense of the unknown and mythical that needs not be explained only savored and enjoyed. Would love to discuss this novel with someone who has read some of Spencer's other works or had the privledge of hearing her lecture.