Transforming Psyche

Carol A. Stos is an assistant professor of Spanish at Laurentian
University.

Barbara Weir Huber’s analysis of the myth of Psyche and Eros offers a
woman-centred interpretation of the roles of the female protagonists and
their relationships. Huber’s Psyche is not the passive participant she
is traditionally portrayed as, and Aphrodite is not the wickedly jealous
and vengeful mother-in-law. Rather, the four tasks she sets out for
Psyche are designed to bring her into the fullness of her female
identity through a specifically female way of knowing. Huber’s purpose
is to “use ancient myths to illuminate the experiences of present-day
women and ultimately to provide positive and affirmative ways for
understanding women’s ‘examined’ lives.”

Huber’s approach is feminist as well as multi- and interdisciplinary,
encompassing culture, literature, art, philosophy, religion, political
thought, and education. She begins with a look at methodology within the
context and circumstances of the issues of her study, redirecting her
investigations to include a much broader understanding of ways of
learning/knowing. Analyzing the metaphors of seeing and hearing in the
myth of Echo and Narcissus in their gender-specific implications, she
outlines the age-old dichotomies of masculine/feminine that the
transformation of Psyche will disrupt because “difference and
potential” both exist in her narrative. A study of Aphrodite as
goddess redefines the significance of the tasks she gives to Psyche, and
leads to a reinterpretation of the myth as a “story of
transformation.” Psyche’s tasks are analyzed first in the context of
women’s learning and life experiences and then as gender-influenced
preferences in narrative.

Psyche’s pregnancy and birthing experience are examined as a way of
revaluing authentic female being, authority, and power and establishing
the continuity of female experience. Huber applies the results of this
transformation of Psyche to the writings of such women such as Gertrude
Stein, Margaret Laurence, and Lucy Maud Montgomery to demonstrate that
elements and patterns she has revealed in retelling Psyche’s tale
illuminate feminist theory and the autobiographical writing of modern
women. Transforming Psyche is a radical reinterpretation of the myth and
a significant contribution to feminist discourse.