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The Maiden King: The Reunion of Masculine and Feminine

by Robert Bly,Marion Woodman*

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Although he's a National Book Award-winning poet, revered not only for his poetry but for his masterful translations of and critical essays about such internationally celebrated poets as Goethe and Antonio Machado, Robert Bly is perhaps more widely recognized for spearheading the men's movement with his bestselling book Iron John. Marion Woodman is a Jungian analyst whose scholarly work on feminine consciousness has distinguished her as one of Canada's leading feminists. These two renowned intellectuals have joined forces to explore the struggle for power between the masculine and feminine, using the ancient Russian myth of the Maiden Tsar as their framework.

The story of the Maiden Tsar is richly complex, detailing a young man's encounters with a series of strong female characters--some mythical, some mortal--including a tutor who betrays him, the harsh but wise Baba Yaga, and the omnipotent and beautiful Maiden Tsar. In his commentary, Bly explores the representation of the masculine, drawing on psychological, spiritual, and mythological sources to inform his analysis; Woodman uses a Jungian lens through which she can probe the psyche of the feminine. Together they hope to find a place in which the two sexes can coexist, without undermining or compromising the powerful energy of the feminine.

A thoughtful, enlightening, and impassioned work, The Maiden King may very well turn out to be the highbrow Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. --Kera Bolonik