308
PARTISAN REVIEW
ent existence. In this novel the New World Heredias are both inher–
itors and legacy of the Old World Heredias , as their self-same names
suggest, and the old French teller of the tale to the Mexican author,
who is Fuentes, virtually dis incarnates the literary tradition vivified
by the younger novelist, both former ambassador to France and
Mexican cosmopolite. Transferred to history, as so often done by
means of surrealist jump-cuts in this narrative dedicated to Buiiuel,
the personal narrative looms in vaster images: "The Creole revolu–
tions weren't fought for
liberte, egalite, fraternite,
but to acquire a Napo–
leon. That was and still is the secret desire of the ruling class of Latin
America."
Whether read for such paradoxical acuities or for comparable
politics among characters,
Distant Relations
is a fleeting snowflake of
unique arrangements, constantly, in its own words,
e~tablishing
"anal–
ogy without sacrificing differentiation." Both Donoso's and Fuentes's
books, in fact, are on the cool side, one as if behind the glass of a dec–
orative arts museum, the other under the yellowed lens of a leather–
cased magnifier. Both signal their critical signs from afar, challenging
their translators (who, for the most part, preserve the required dis–
tance) as well as their readers to see more where there is apparently
less , affect where there is evidently only effect.
If
Fuentes's is the
more obviously dieted, Donoso's is no less severely regimented. Both
are too rich for many readers, still demanding poorer fare.
RONALD CHRIST
TRUTH AND FICTION
HELENE DEUTSCH: A PSYCHOANALYST'S LIFE.
By
Paul Roazen.
Anchor Press/Doubleday. $19.95.
For all her brilliant reputation earlier, Helene Deutsch
has not fared well recently. Her two-volume study,
The Psychology of
Women,
has been attacked by feminist critics for following too closely
on the heels of Freud. Yet as Paul Roazen persuasively argues, and he
is not alone - feminist critics are now reevaluating her themselves–
there are significant differences between Deutsch's ideas and Freud's:
her belief that female narcissism is a source of self-protection, for ex-
