Literature Review
The Winter Gardener: A Woman's Journey from Futile to Fertile finds its place among well-known contemporary books, which ultimately share a common quest, namely the search for consciousness, healing and transformation.
A reader attests to the depth and power of “The Winter Gardener”…
The Winter Gardener is about our capacity to transform our lives. In an age in which we are struggling to move beyond a mechanistic paradigm and in a time when we are carrying the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Age of Reason, we need our winter gardeners desperately.
Hetherington charts her way through the end of a marriage while navigating the minefield of a new relationship. Her writing reveals a fine mind with literary sensibilities but the essence of her achievement is in her ability to pull back, piece by piece, the protective armor we all know so well. She unravels her mysteries through an imagistic discourse and dream life reminding the reader that we all live with, and are informed by archetypes; we live with layers of wisdom waiting to be received when we are ready. Most of all Hetherington's journey is a reminder that you cannot get to the soul through the intellect.
Psychologically the story is a strong depiction of the heroine's journey. She exposes unintentional toxic parenting and how patterns established in childhood can trip us up egregiously in adulthood. The author reveals how incredibly challenging it is for us to move our personalities and experience out of the darkness and into the light.
— Submitted by Sally Williams www.sallywilliams.ca
In the following discussion we throw light on the specific ways that The Winter Gardener establishes itself within contemporary literature and simultaneously stands alone as a unique treatment of a timeless theme. For the purposes of this discussion, our book is referred to as WG.
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., 1992.
Wolves and the WG share a common theme: the recovery of the instinctual self. Both are intelligent, visceral and bold. Neither run away from the ordeals of transformation. They differ, however, in scope and structure. Wolves draws from a wide range of archetypal stories whereas the WG recounts a personal story. The structure of Wolves alternates between story and analysis whereas in the WG, the narrative thread remains unbroken throughout. Wolves instructs on the recovery of the instinctual self; the WG demonstrates the work directly.
Goddesses in Everywoman: A New Psychology of Women
by Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., 1985.
Goddesses and the WG share a cause and effect relationship: the former discusses the influence of archetypes on behaviour and personality whereas the WG reveals how these energies impact a woman's life. In the WG archetypes are more than mythic figures; they are dynamic characters fomenting tension and conflict. For example, we see a jealous Athena raising hell as she suspects that her central role is being usurped by a Hestia character, namely the Winter Gardener. The WG humanized the subject of archetypes and depicts a woman living consciously with these energies.
How to Know God: The Soul's Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries
by Deepak Chopra, 2000.
God and the WG are complimentary: God's premise makes sense of a woman's struggle for meaning and the WG enlivens philosophy and science in a way that theory cannot. The WG straddles the chasm between Stages Two and Three of Chopra's model and bears witness to the chaos that ensures when the outer trappings of one stage are relinquished for the inner satisfactions of the next. The WG highlights this passage: the inward focus, the silent witness, the spiritual rigour, the clash of values, the requirement to leave the collective path.
God and the WG differ, however, in treatment and style. God is cerebral and deals with theory while the WG is experiential and deals with the physical/emotional body. The WG rounds out theory and makes it real.
Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life
by Greg Levoy, 1997.
Finding and Following and the WG work in tandem: Finding and Following describes the process of responding to callings while the WG verifies and elaborates on the process.
They differ, however, in perspective. Finding and Following treats callings as the subject of intense study whereas the WG treats callings as a primary theme running throughout the narrative—not cited per se—but significant as the underlying force fuelling the story. In Finding and Following, callings is an abstract idea; in the WG the concept of callings is personified by the Winter Gardener who speaks out as the voice of soul and the authentic self.
Self Matters: Creating your Life from the Inside Out
by P. C. McGraw, Ph. D., 2001.
Self and the WG share a similar tone: both are candid and straight-up, dynamic rather than pedantic. They combine head with heart, doggedness with willingness. The authors know the territory personally and professionally. They are prepared to do whatever it takes to create an authentic life. Their work digs below the surface and is rooted in a psychological base.
They differ, however, in that the Self offers an explicit course of study whereas the WG teaches indirectly, using many of the same ideas but weaving them into the fabric of the story instead. Self's style is larger than life; the WG's style is up close and personal. Self talks the talk; the WG walks the talk.