Ariadne Without a Clew of ThreadnNina Schneider: The Woman WhonLived in a Prologue; Houghton MifflinnCo.; Boston.nby Edward J. WalshnA oward the end of this flamboyantntestament to contemporary feminismnas the source of spice in a woman’s life,nthe narrator, now an elderly woman, isnsitting in the garden of her estatenin May, apparently enjoying the sightsnand sounds of spring. But wait! In hernhand she holds a copy of Village Voice.nIsn’t that a bit much, we wonder, for anwoman raised in a devoutly traditionalnJewish home, steeped in her family’snancient heritage, educated in Shakespeare,nwho married her father’s choicenof a husband.” Village Voice?nThe Woman Who Lived in a Prologuenis the saga of Ariadne, daughternof immigrant Jews, a fanciful but scatterbrainednwoman who finds her lifensomehow incomplete, almost from hernearliest childhood. She marries Adam,na dutiful, albeit stiffly formal, fellow,nwhen their unromantic courtship isnforced to betrothal after they are trappedntogether overnight by a snowstorm.nAdam is determined to vindicate hernhonor before her father, although itnwas never compromised. They marry tonsatisfy convention rather than love, andnconvention—the of ten tyrannical arbiternof what is expected of men and womenn—becomes Ariadne’s lifelong enemy.nSchneider’s technique might be callednthe impassioned flashback. Her heroinentells her life story from the perspectivenof grandmotherhood. It is the storynof her staunchly defended teen-age virginity,nher reluctant marriage, her earlynabortion and her subsequent four children.nShe dwells, in the early years, onnthe cold and sterile relationship withnhusband Adam—it was he, after all, whonMr. Walsh is a frequent contributor tonthese pages.nwhile out of a job suggested her abortion.nFrom this we may infer that Ariadnenthe submissive wife is forced by hernchauvinistic dictatorial husband to haventhe operation. But her accusation isnbroader than that: not Adam, but thenpatriarchal structure of traditional middle-classnsociety that frowned on the appearancenof hard times that the childnwould create, is the villain. The abortionnitself is a trivial aside.nAriadne’s sullenness increases overnthe years of life with Adam and theirnfour kids, and, embroidered in Schneider’sncolorful prose, becomes the essencenof the novel. The book focuses on sexuality—thenroutineness and lonelinessnof it with Adam, and then, after twentynyears of marriage, the enraptured splendornof sex with Paul, whom she meets atnan art class in which Adam urges hernto enroll. Adultery becomes her, makesnher exciting, dynamic and interesting,nif not happy:nGratified sensuality has not broughtnpeaceful sleep. We have carried it likena wasting illness; I have known diffuse,nbone-aching fevers, freezes,npains, nights of boil, bubble, scum.nBut in its energy, self-love, selfsearching,nits fierceness, its insistence,neven in its unhappy-ever-after, itnpenetrated the impalpable chaos. Evennin its firm disillusionment, it balancednexistence.nImpalpable chaos—to Ariadne, it includesnnot just heartbreak and hardship,nthe fathomless confusion that all humannbeings find interrupting their lives,nbut rather her entire life as a somewhatnaverage person. She lives well, is blessednwith children, prestige, opportunity forncultural enrichment—yet her outlooknon life is overwhelmed by her hatrednof her husband’s aloofness and scrupulouslyncorrect intellectuality. Her lifenis plumbed by tragedy—the death of onenson and the insanity of another—butnthese blows are no more than incidentalnnnto the gnawing confusion and emptinessnshe endures—because of her husband’sncoldness, we surmise.nBut the real reason is that she can’tnfind the time to write her book.nIt may be a universal law that peoplenwho believe they have a great novelngestating inside them are the most tiresomenof souls. That precept is buttressednby Ariadne, who “lives in a prologue,”nthat is, dallies through her life into dotagenbefore taking up pen and telling thenstory of a life marked by events and circumstancesnthat seem tailor-made as thenstuff of interesting, “relevant” contemporarynfiction. The oppressive traditionalnchildhood, the domineering husband,nthe abortion, the loss of sons, thenart studies and finally the love affairnand world travel—ingredients for anstory, to be sure, but one that has reallynmissed the relevancy boat, since radicalnfeminism is already on the skids in thenUnited States.nIndeed, the winds of liberal changenthat huffed in the radical causes of then70’s have shifted markedly. The EqualnRights Amendment is stalled. Articlesnare being published with titles like “ThenNew Chastity,” and, in the world ofnbusiness, career women seem to benthinking twice about accepting transfersnaway from their spouses. Feminists arenon the defensive in state legislatures andnin the U.S. Congress. The sexual revolution,nhaving scarred many lives, isnreceding.nSo Mrs. Schneider’s frenetic novelnwill not share bookstore display casesnwith Germaine Greer—if that lady’sndepressing tomes can still be found anywhere.nAriadne’s flashbacks are toonneatly cast in the dim light of the TorturednConsciousness of the 60’s andn70’s. Her escapade in Canada as an accomplicenof her grandson, who is evadingnthe Vietnam draft, is just silly. Hernendless self-analysis, jumping back andnforth between first- and third-personni^onSeptember/October 1980n