Virginia Hyde

This ground-breaking book was many years in the making by some of the country's leading women scholars. Until the present century, few people thought of travel as a female pursuit. Men traveled; women stayed at home. But women have always journeyed, for many reasons, as this important book demonstrates." There is almost nothing on women and travel," notes Susan Armitage, editor of the acclaimed The Women's West and a contributor to Women and the Journey. "It has been taken for granted that men are adventurers and explorers, but what this does is wipe out the stories of women travelers. As we looked at how women's senses of their journeys differed from those of men, we felt like explorers ourselves." The eleven essays in Women and the Journey, as well as the original artwork by Jo Hockenhull, approach the theme of women and travel from a variety of perspectives, including literature, history, foreign languages, fine arts, and women's studies. Over several years the contributors worked on this project as a team, sharing research, reading one another's work, uniting in the process of creating a unique book together. Like quilt making, "that most female of activities," note McLeod and Frederick in their prologue, "each of us had some say in how the final product was put together." Women and the Journey is destined to become a women's studies classic. Contributors include Susan Armitage, Joan Burbick, Susanna Finnell, Bonnie Frederick, Diane Gillespie, Jo Hockenhull, Virginia Hyde, Birgitta Ingemanson, Susan McLeod, Sheila Ruzycki O'Brien, Louise Schleiner, Marina Tolmacheva, and Annette White-Parks.

Showing Lawrence's familiarity with biblical typology from both written and visual sources, Virginia Hyde explores its many ironic and paradoxical versions in his works. She demonstrates his use of typological precursors of Christ, such as Adam and David, Moses and Aaron, and his development of a coherent cosmology centered on the cross and the Tree of Life. These features often take on radically revisionist meanings when informed by Lawrence's interests in theosophy and occult lore. Hyde fully recognized Lawrence's intensely dynamic style and examines the ways in which he works creatively with his models. Hyde sheds new light on Lawrence's "leadership" views, linking them to patriarchal assumptions inherent in biblical typology. She utilizes manuscripts and sketches as well as his traditional works to show that a complex form of biblical symbolism affects both his form and content in unexpected ways. His symbols are often traceable to iconographic models with typological significance. The Risen Adam includes pioneering treatments of the first Quetzalcoatl, the 1923 version of The Plumed Serpent, so different in part from the final novel as to form a separate creative effort. Hyde also offers provocative new readings of The Rainbow, Women in Love, Aaron's Rod, "The Border Line," The Plumed Serpent, David, The Man Who Died, Birds, Beasts and Flowers, and other works. The book is illustrated with artwork by Lawrence and with examples of the medieval and other iconography he knew.