From: "J. R. Raper" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: FW: FW: FW: FW: vaginal spiders


> Nora,
> To return to the literal side of the metaphor, I was going to suggest a
> poem
> by Denise Levertov that I remembered as "In Praise of my Vagina."  Good
> thing I looked it up.  I was remembering "Hypocrite Women," which turns
> out
> to be a demystifying poem, not at all what I remembered.
> Instead, Anne Sexton wrote "In Celebration of My Uterus," not exactly on
> our
> topic though a natural displacement, I guess.  Both were bold poems, I
> believe, for their time--well before the Dialogues.
> White's attractive spider was named Fern, wasn't it?
> Jack
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Murray Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 5:11 PM
> Subject: FW: FW: FW: FW: vaginal spiders
>
>
>>         From: Nora Crow [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>         Subject: Re: FW: FW: FW: vaginal spiders
>>
>>         Jack:
>>
>>         Certainly there are attractive spiders.  See E.B. White's
> _Charlotte's
>>         Web_.
>>
>>         Nora
>>
>>         >>> [log in to unmask] - 2/18/05 4:34 PM >>>
>>                 From: J. R. Raper [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>                 Subject: Re: FW: FW: vaginal spiders
>>
>>                 Johanna,
>>                 That was my sense too, that the visual associations would
>>         explain the vagina
>>                 symbolism.  Do not many spiders suggest the gorgon heads,
>>         including Medusa's
>>                 head, which, as I recall, are tried and true vagina
> symbols, at
>>         least for
>>                 lit crits?
>>                 They combine hideousness with their beauty in death, have
> the
>>         power to turn
>>                 people who gaze upon them to stone, and, through their
> teeth,
>>         represent the
>>                 much feared vagina dentata.
>>                 Hey, the latter are not my wild theories but come out of
> the
>>         Oxf. Companion
>>                 to Classical Lit.
>>                 Probably there are some attractive spiders too, but . . .
>>                 I'll leave it at that.
>>                 Jack
>>                 ----- Original Message -----
>>                 From: "Murray Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]>
>>                 To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>                 Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 12:00 PM
>>                 Subject: FW: FW: vaginal spiders
>>
>>
>>                 >         From: [log in to unmask]
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>                 >         Subject: Re: FW: vaginal spiders
>>                 >
>>                 >         Another take:
>>                 >
>>                 >         Psycholinguistics are important, but our first
> level
>>         of
>>                 unconscious structure derives from sensory input.  The
>>         symbolism of the
>>                 spider might start with the round center plus appendages
> that
>>         reach out.
>>                 Black=darkness, too. There is the further aspect of
> entrapment
>>         in its web.
>>                 Mother=woman=vagina, no?
>>                 >
>>                 >         Johanna Tabin
>>                 >
>>
>>
>>
>
>