Commune of Women (42 page)

What was the inspiration for
Commune of Women?

I’ve always been interested in women’s issues, particularly in how women develop under the influence of, and often in spite of, patriarchy. I thought it would be interesting to isolate an extremely diverse group of women, to see how they might deport themselves when all the rules were theirs for the making. The title comes from the women in one of my dream groups, who joke about spending their later years together, in a commune of women.

Dreams are scattered throughout
Commune of Women
. Why have you given them such prominence?

I’ve run dream groups for over twenty-five years and I’m fascinated by how they develop into consciousness-raising groups – at the psyche’s insistence. Dreams emerge that indicate the inner demand for transformation. Also, they clearly picture the inner and outer state of the dreamer and sometimes even foretell events, as Sophia’s dream about standing in the middle of an intersection clearly foresees her collision with the terrorists. Dreams are the bucket that pulls our deepest knowing up from the well of the unconscious, and so, rather than being just a literary device, the dreams in
Commune of Women
promote character development because they indicate the true interior state of the character.

Why have you chosen to format
Commune of Women
as you have, with each character speaking separately?

My intention is to get as deeply into the inner workings of each character as possible, and for that, an omniscient point of view seemed too distanced, and so I use it sparingly. I’ve approached in intimate third person, so that the reader is pulled right inside the thought processes of each character. One of my favorite works of literature is Lawrence Durrell’s
Alexandria Quartet
, in which four main characters share the same events but from completely different perspectives. That kind of psychological relativity is what I’m exploring in
Commune of Women
. Like a film, the narrative, within a very short time frame, flickers among multiple points of view. I think we’ve all wondered how we would respond in a truly life-threatening situation. The characters offer seven individual responses and the format is an attempt to understand those responses as intimately as possible.

Do you think
Commune of Women
will provoke some people, because of its show of sympathy for the individual terrorists?

It certainly might do so, although that is not my intention. I think it’s all too easy, these days, to scapegoat entire nations of people, without the smallest understanding of their cultural, economic, historic, religious or political circumstances. That’s the point I hope to make – but I certainly have no intention of condoning terrorism!

Do you have a favorite character?

It would be hard to choose because I’ve lived so deeply into each of them and have such empathy for each one. If I were forced to decide, I suppose it would have to be Ondine, who seems to express a dilemma common in many women. Let’s face it, American women have tremendous freedom of choice about their lives, compared to women in other parts of the world. Still, I find many women are for some reason afraid to be as big and glorious as they are able to be. Through Ondine I explore the kinds of brakes we all put on ourselves, in regard to living large. And besides, her character gave me an opportunity to live for a time at
Quatre Vents
, a place I am convinced actually exists and which I intend to locate, one day!

Pearl is such a unique character. Is she based on someone you know?

No, but I wish I did. I just love Pearl. She’s actually a composite of several influences. My friend Charles had a grandmother as indomitable under difficult circumstances as Pearl is. She may be the gritty core around which the character of Pearl accreted. And then, from my years of working in a men’s prison, I have come to love the cadences of black street slang and rap, which is poetic, rhythmic, vivid and blunt. Pearl’s character also taps into experiences of my youth among the living remnants of California’s Gold Rush and the migrants of the Dust Bowl, who were pretty pithy individuals – weather-beaten, marginalized, impoverished, honest, hardworking, and kind, once you breached their tough exteriors. Also, Pearl is a summation of the woes of womankind and she embodies the undefeated soul of the archetypal Feminine, with its wisdom, patience, faith, nurturance, endurance, hard work and humility.

What if you’d written
Commune of Men
, instead – how would it be different?

Oh my! What a question! Well, for one thing, I imagine the pace of the novel would be completely different – much more action-adventure oriented. I think it would be much more plot-driven--those guys would be inventing weapons out of materials at hand, sending out scouts, wrestling terrorists for their guns in the hallways and rescuing hostages. That kind of thing. Which is not to say that women can’t be actively courageous – I think Najat and her entire lineage of Palestinian women demonstrate that. The women of
Commune of Women
are practicing a different kind of courage, distinguished by its patience and endurance, its willingness to cooperate, its self-restraint and focus on the needs of others.

I understand that the cover art for
Commune of Women
is yours?

Yes, even though writing is my main focus, I’m also an artist. As I was finishing
Commune of Women
, that particular image kept insisting that it wanted to be on the cover. I was so fortunate that Barb Buck, who did the cover design, felt the same way about it. That image, called
Three Graces in Paris
, is from a collage series I did that honors the strength and mystery of the feminine.

You have Sophia say that, in some ways, the Burning Times never stopped. What do you mean by that?

The term
the Burning Times
refers to the Inquisition, during which so-called witches were burned at the stake and in ovens. Deaths in this “Women’s Holocaust” are estimated by scholars to have been between 60 to 110 thousand. My point is that the persecution of women persists today, long after the Inquisition. We see it in religious and legal repressions of women in various forms, in wholesale rape of women in politically unsettled areas, or in the booming business of sex slavery. The recent
60 Minutes
interview of the reporter, Lara Logan, in which she speaks of her harrowing attack in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, during President Mubarek’s fall, brings this observation right up to the minute. Her clothing was ripped off and she was sexually assaulted and nearly ripped apart by a mob of men for 25 minutes until an amazing thing happened: she landed in the lap of a woman covered head to toe in a black body veil. This woman embraced her, which slowed the mob long enough for help to arrive. Isn’t it amazing how, in an instant, and between the most disparate types, a commune of women can form? The image of a battered, naked woman embraced on the lap of a mysterious feminine figure all in black is certainly a
Pietà
for our times!

What’s next for you? Maybe a novel on the life of Tante Collette?

You know, I’ve thought of that. Tante Collette is ripe for the picking, isn’t she? But she’ll have to wait. I have several books in progress, lined up like a wagon train that extends from Kansas to California! Lead wagon is
Fiesta of Smoke
, a novel about the coming revolution in Mexico. It’s a love story that extends over five turbulent decades – and in its center, there’s a deep well that takes us back over nine hundred years into an ancient mystery. It’s going to be a very long book – one to take on summer vacation or to read during the doldrums of winter. I hope to have it completed by year’s end.

One last question: what did you learn from the women of
Commune of Women
?

They affirmed things that I’ve observed about women all my life. I know women have been the butt of endless jokes about everything from sex to driving a car to the shapes of our bodies. But when the chips are down, women can be tough. Steely. They can pull together, work to exhaustion, conquer unimaginable odds – and never lose their moral compass. Never sink to underhandedness or gratuitous violence, either physical or psychological. Each of the characters in
Commune of Women
is imperfect, flawed in some way. But through acceptance of one another’s weaknesses and by working together, they prevail. When you look around the globe and see what women are enduring, you know there has to be something incredibly powerful inside that keeps us going against all odds. That’s what I learned from the women of
Commune of Women
: we’re
powerful
; united, we can, must, and will prevail.

Commune of Women
is composed of seven intertwining story lines: those of Erika, Heddi, Betty, Pearl, Sophia, Ondine and Najat. Discuss the structure and prose style of each narrative. Do you find the individual voices to be distinct? Did you enjoy the alternating of voices and time frames? What are the strengths and drawbacks of this format?

Which character did you prefer? Why? Is one voice more or less authentic than the others? If you could go out to lunch with only one of these characters, which one would you choose as most interesting to dine with? Did you consider Tante Collette, Madame Zola, Father Christopher, Matilda and Pearl’s Granny when making your choice? Are they powerful enough as characters to warrant consideration as luncheon guests?

Discuss the ways in which interior and exterior spaces, houses, rooms and gardens define each character. Are you interested in such spaces, their aesthetic quality and distinctive characteristics? Recall the significant space of each character. Does any of these spaces become a character all its own? What kind of space most authentically defines you?

The use of dreams, the discussion of
demoiselles
and fairies, and Sophia’s uncanny intuitive powers all introduce an element of the unknown into the narrative. How comfortable are you with these subjects? Did they “work” for you? Did they arouse your curiosity to know more? Have you ever experienced anything like this – precognitive dreams, visitations by Others, or deep intuitive knowing?

What are the major themes of
Commune of Women
? If you were to recommend this book to another reader, how would you summarize it?

What did you know about the political situation in Palestine – and Gaza and the Rafah Camp, in particular – before reading
Commune of Women
? Or in Rwanda, Iran, Bosnia, Chechnya, or Kurdistan? How did this book teach you about, or change your impression of, these important chapters in world history? Did it change your understanding of terrorism to read the individual histories of the terrorists? To what extent did the author take artistic liberties with this information?

What does the title,
Commune of Women
, mean to you? Did you associate it with communal living? With communication? With the taking of a sacrament? With communing with out-of-the-ordinary beings, including Pearl’s Granny? Have you ever had an experience in which women worked together in difficult circumstances to accomplish something – especially basic survival? Do you feel that the women acted reasonably? What would you have done differently, in their situation?

How did you react to the underlying theme of government corruption? Do you trust your government always to do the right and legal thing? Do you feel that personal or corporate interests sometimes intervene in government operations and decisions? Have you ever had an experience of this, or can you cite instances in which you believe this has occurred?

How do you imagine the lives of the women, after the novel ends? What will their lives be like, what decisions will they make, and how have they been altered or transformed by their experience? Will any of the characters choose to forget or deny what has happened and the insights she has gained?

Is there a moral to
Commune of Women
? What have you learned about our world and about yourself, from reading the women’s story?

To reach Suzan Still with questions or to arrange a personal or telephone visit with your reading group, contact her at [email protected].