cover image Sound of a Silver Horn

Sound of a Silver Horn

Kathleen Noble. Fawcett Books, $20 (233pp) ISBN 978-0-449-90588-3

Prescinding from the male model of hero, psychologist Noble invites an examination of the lives of 35 women from the perspective of the heroic quest. The female hero's journey, as exemplified in their stories and that of the personal/spiritual odyssey of the author, is sparsely peopled with role models and allies. In Noble's words, ``If the male hero has `a thousand faces,' as Campbell claimed, the female hero has virtually none.'' Her purpose is to construct a female hero myth that allows women to perceive themselves as ``heroes of their own lives, authors of their own stories.'' A panorama of contemporary women in diverse settings--a Catholic convent, an African American household--shows the various subjects at different points on their heroic journey, all cultivating potential that other women can emulate to similarly transform their lives. Never strident, this is a stimulating contribution to literature on women's psychological and spiritual development. Author tour. (Mar.)