Barbara Pym and Cycladic Idols

Barbara Pym and Cycladic Idols

 

 One female character, Daphne, is so in love with Aegean, that she tries baking Cycladic idols from bread dough.  See my book, The Subversion of Romance in the Novels of Barbara Pym, or my dissertation, ‘In Small Things Forgotten’: the Subversion of Romance in the Novels of Barbara Pym. She also approximates a Greek peasant lunch of bread, olives, cheese, and tomatoes.  Frankly, I cut all these up and make tomato Greek salad, and use the bread to dip into the olive oil mixed with crushed tomatoes. 

 

Pictured is the Cycladic idol I photographed in Milwaukee.  More photos exist online, and in the website and catalogues of Sadigh Gallery. The idols are goddess figures, more than 5000 years old.  The large size of the doll or figure in Milwaukee is, in my experience, unusual.  I have an alabaster example and another modern figure cast in bronze or brass metal. There is more on them in my posts for Collect Dolls at About.com and on my own blogs “Doll Museum”, and “Dr. E’s Doll Museum.” Winifred Gerin has written an excellent pamphlet on ancient dolls, which I bought on Amazon.com a few years ago.