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Bryant, Dorothy / Wilson, J. J.:
Confessions of Madame Psyche - used book

1987, ISBN: 9781558611863

ID: 6912115

1987 American Book Award Winner This ambitious and enchanting novel is both modern-day epic and a work of great emotional and spiritual death. Bold in its historical scope, rich in colorful settings, and eminently readable, Confessions of Madame Psyche also reaches inward, toward quieter truths. The novel is narrated by Mei0li Murrow, born in San Francisco in 1895, the illegitimate daughter of a charismatic confidence man and the Chinese prostitute he has "rescued" from the streets. After her mother's early death, Mei-li is left to care of her mercenary half-sister Erika. When the young Mei-li, by pure coincidence, predicts the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Erika contructs her identity as "Madame Psyche"-exploiting Mei'li's exoticism and her clients' yearnings for contact with the dead in a series of ingeniously orchestrated seances that win her renown as a medium in California and then in the death-soaked Europe of the First World War. Ironically, it is when she manages to finally reject the popular "spirituality" that has made her famous that Mei-li experiences a truer spiritual vision: One day, while walking on the beach, she has a revelation of her connection to all of life-"an experience of hidden reality which I have never doubted...and which left me permanently changed by what I then knew and know still and will always know." Mei-li's subsequent journey leads her through the aspirations and disappointments of a utopian commune in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the 1920s; to the poverty of migrant work camps in the Depression-era Salinas Valley; and to the courage of the first strikes on San Jose's cannery row. Finally, when the relentless Erika cheats her out of an inheritance by having her committed to the Napa State Hospital, Mee-li finds her greatest wisdom and peace among the outcasts of the asylum-and there writes her "confessions." Mei'li's story is ensconed in the rich history of Northern California in the first half of the twentieth century, and peopled by comrades of many classes and cultures and lovers both male and female; but her central odyssey remains one of inner discovery. In Confessions of Madame Psyche, Dorothy Bryant has created a character who is so honest in her search for truth, growth, and spiritual understanding that this quest becomes inherent to her survival. Confessions of Madame Psyche Bryant, Dorothy / Wilson, J. J., Feminist Press

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Dorothy Bryant:
Confessions of Madame Psyche - used book

1987, ISBN: 155861186X

ID: 4547113

This 1987 American Book Award Winner follows the story of the young Mei-li Murrow who is dubbed "Madame Psyche" after she accidentally predicts the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Although she wins fame and fortune, Mei-li seeks a truer spirituality, and embarks on a pilgrimage that takes her to the death-soaked Europe of the First World War, to a utopian commune in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the 1920s, to the Depression-era migrant work camps and cannery strikes, and finallyto the Napa State Hospital, where she finds wisdom and peace among the outcasts of the asylum. Mei-li's modern-day epic is grounded in the history of Northern California in the first half of the twentieth century and peopled by comrades of many classes and cultures and by lovers both male and female. Yet her central odyssey remains one of inner discovery. In Confessions of Madame Psyche , Dorothy Bryant has created a character who is so honest in her search for truth, growth, and spiritual understanding that this quest becomes inherent to her survival. contemporary,fiction,gender studies,genre fiction,historical,humanities,literary,literature,literature and fiction,politics and social sciences Women's Studies, Feminist Press at The City University of New York

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Dorothy Bryant:
Confessions of Madame Psyche - Paperback

ISBN: 9781558611863

Paperback, [PU: Feminist Press at The City University of New York], This enchanting novel is both a modern-day epic and a work of great emotional and spiritual depth. Mei-li Murrow is born in San Francisco in 1895, the illegitimate daughter of a charismatic con man and the Chinese prostitute he has "rescued" from the streets. When young Mei-li by chance predicts the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, her scheming half-sister exploits Mei-li as a psychic. But Mei-li rejects popular "spirituality" and seeks a truer vision., Feminism & Feminist Theory

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Dorothy Bryant:
Confessions of Madame Psyche - Paperback

ISBN: 9781558611863

ID: 1056487076

The Feminist Press at CUNY. Paperback. GOOD. Spine creases, wear to binding and pages from reading. May contain limited notes, underlining or highlighting that does affect the text. Possible ex library copy, that’ll have the markings and stickers associated from the library. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included., The Feminist Press at CUNY

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Dorothy Bryant:
Confessions of Madame Psyche - Paperback

ISBN: 9781558611863

ID: 941519882

The Feminist Press at CUNY. Paperback. GOOD. Gently used may contain ex-library markings, possibly has some light highlighting, textual notations, and or underlining. Text is still easily readable., The Feminist Press at CUNY