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In The Sibling Society, Bly nags women and men alike, portraying a society gone rank with self-interest, irresponsibility, materialism, and intentional exile from history. He would have us all grieve deeply for the result.
Somehow, he argues, the combination of teen consumerism that began in the 1950s, Woodstock generation contempt for all elders, and today's apparent proliferation of fatherless families has created the arid culture of the title: whatever our chronological age, we are all perpetual half-adults pursuing our own pleasure.
We do not practice "vertical" thinking, as mature societies must in order to survive. In other words, we do not look downward to help the troubled younger generation now growing up in poverty, bitterness, and cultural barrenness. We do not look upward to learn from previous generations still walking about above ground, much less from the accumulated wisdom of the ages.
To illustrate his convictions, Bly uses fairy tales ranging from Jack in the Beanstalk to some wickedly sly Swedish stories. He quotes frequently from such fine poets as William Stafford and finds reverberation for his own musings both in academic writing and in pop-psych books written for the general audience.
Surely, most readers will agree that greater concern for the young, deeper respect for the elderly, wider knowledge of traditional religions and literatures, and a more vigorous assumption of family and social responsibility are all good things.
It is just as likely, for this is the way books like The Sibling Society work, that most readers will also feel less scolded than affirmed. In sum, the people who will buy Bly's book are those who already buy Bly's points of view.
Occasionally, the moral arbiter gets lazy with his biases and can sound like an uninformed old goat, as when he rants against the pernicious potential of the Internet and certain rock performers. To accuse the witty group Porno for Pyros, say, of "aggression that is diffuse, nondirectional, inconsolable" suggests that he has lost touch with the youthful exuberance and impertinence that fueled his own poetry for decades. To rail at the Internet is to rail at night or day.
The Sibling Society addresses a wider range of social ills than Iron John and offers no one avenue toward solution. This time, Bly implies, we are not to beat drums in the Lyme disease-ridden woods but must individually explore and craft for ourselves sure pathways to adulthood. Otherwise, we cannot reinvigorate our spiritually sterile community of adolescents.
Charles Flowers, who lives in Purdy's, New York, is currently writing a book based on the upcoming PBS-TV series, "Century of Discovery."
©1996, ProMotion, inc.