An Intimate wilderness

Library Journal

This poetry and prose anthology speaks of the ebb and flow of lesbian sexuality. Not a how-to manual or an erotica reader, it is a refreshingly honest treatment of a complex subject. Taken together, these pieces examine women's efforts to define sexuality on their own terms, how intimacy influences other aspects of their lives and vice versa. Contributors represent a cross-section of cultures. Many talk about the difficulties connected with feeling or acting on desires with other women in a world openly hostile to them. The trauma of incest on relationships surfaces in a few pieces, as in Maureen Seaton's ``The Bed.'' The material (a good share reprinted and some original) ranges from the analytical to the introspective, the serious to the comic, the political to the personal. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-- Lisa Nussbaum, formerly with Cambria Cty. P.L., Johnstown, Pa.