[Herbalist] RE: Herbalist digest, Vol 1 #202 - 6 msgs

[Wendy Freeman/Otte]

Ah, well...being a dyer who dabbles in herbs (there's a lot of cross-over - I just don't usually eat my plants <grin>), my impression was favorable - the herbal lore mentioned in the Midwife's Apprentice seemed to be well researched, and I remember nodding in agreement whenever I ran across an herb I use.

As for women's roles in the Middle Ages, we have to give a little for poetic license - after all, it IS a story.  We also must realize that much of women's work was ignored, supressed, or credited to someone else by the historians and writers of the Middle Ages.  It's easier to re-write history than to stop a determined spirit.  I cannot believe that our spirit has changed that much - and women usually find a way to do what needs to be done.  Also remember that most laws were written *because* something was happening, not to prevent it from happening - that can give us a whole different perspective on typical lives.
So, her stories didn't seem that far-fetched.
But, now I'll have to read Matilda Bone...
--Wyllow

>Message: 6
>From: Jenne Heise <jenne at mail.browser.net>
>Subject: Re: [Herbalist] RE: Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman
>To: herbalist at ansteorra.org
>Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2002 10:59:05 -0400 (EDT)
>Reply-To: herbalist at ansteorra.org
>
>> Is this what you were looking for?
>
>well, I was looking for people's impressions of the accuracy of the
>background material in general, and what people thought of the books...
>
>Being a librarian I'm not overly interested in people's impressions of the
>age-suitability  or social appropriateness -- I can get them from
>librarian's book reviews. I thought Cushman's books were much better than
>the current fad of depressing kids books but much more realistic than many
>older books.
>
>But there has been some criticism of Cushman as portraying a more bright
>picture of life for women in the period than actually existed. I think her
>picture of women healers is a lot more realistic than that propagated by
>early feminist scholars, but it does have some touches I wasn't sure of.
>
>--
>Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise        jenne at mail.browser.net
>disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
>"There's nothing like being really disastrously silly to draw your
>attention to how silly you are..." -- Elizabeth Goudge
>
>
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>End of Herbalist Digest
>


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