March 2014: Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis (Todd)

Post date: Mar 24, 2014 2:7:34 AM

On my way to Jane's on the 20th, I started thinking... March 2014, that sort of sounds like it might be a meaningful date for the book club, and indeed, the March 2014 meeting marks the 20th anniversary of the East Bay Smith Book Club! The first meeting was held March 30, 1994, and we celebrated our 10th anniversary with a meeting at Ruth Ganong's, as written up (with a photo!) on the blog, here. Since we did not get it together to organize a proper celebration last week, we'll celebrate more fully in April.

In the meantime, we had a large and lively group for our discussion of Kim Todd's book about what has to have been one of the world's most indomitable women, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717). Maggie had suggested the book as she knew the author from childhood, and it was nice that she could give us some details on Kim Todd.

There were mixed reactions to the amount of technical detail in the book, with some feeling they enjoyed the information and that it was important to the story, while others got a bit bogged down. Many of us agreed that the book was hampered by the lack of source material that shed light on Merian's inner life. We wished some heretofore unfound stash of letters would come to light so we could learn a bit more about what she was thinking. It reminded me (and possibly some others) of the book we read about Hedy Lamarr (November 2012: Hedy's Folly), another story of a fascinating woman who did something amazing, but which did not really let the reader get inside the subject. Sandy was intrigued by Merian's involvement the Labadist religious group (cult?) about which few of us had known. It was interesting to see the differences in the level of restrictions on women in different countries, and we all were impressed by Merian's ability to support herself and daughter, and fund her expedition, given the constraints of the world she was living in. She was clearly a remarkable woman, and it is satisfying to see her reputation being reestablished.