Ice and Fire

Dworkin's first novel is indeed an odd mix. Her depiction of a young artist's struggle to publish her work is set in Manhattan's Lower East Side, a locale replete with prostitutes, junkies, and pimps. The novel's opening and closing sections are written stream-of-consciousness, a style as creative and poetic as the subject matterthe wretched life-style and sexual degradation of the protagonistis sordid and prurient. In one passage the desperate artist repeatedly laments, ``How it will end, I don't know.'' An excellent observation. It is surprising to see a feminist of Dworkin's stature write such a novel, depressing and shocking in its vision of women. Whether Dworkin is illustrating the humiliation of women in pornography or parodying her own treatises is not clear. Kimberly G. Allen, Supreme Court Lib., Washington, D.C.