ADVICE TO A YOUNG WIFE FROM AN OLD MISTRESS as told to MICHAEL DRURY (a woman) : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

FOUR DIRECTIONS PRESS on ADVICE TO A YOUNG WIFE FROM AN OLD MISTRESS as told to MICHAEL DRURY

EXCERPT: Michael Drury, despite her name, is a woman who was both a free-lance writer and author of several books. She grew up north of San Francisco, graduated from Stanford University, and went on to write for Harper's and Life. This work had originally been published by Doubleday in the 1960s and in demand for 20 years. 

(I note that it is still available on the internet.)

 

BOOK REVIEW BY MISSY

MISTRESS MANIFESTO

 

There is an elegance to the language and a lovingness to the philosophy in this book that is irresistible.  The book is also short but sweet.

 

 "A mistress always knows more than she says to anyone - to other women, to the man in her life, even to herself.  A good woman friend is a marvel, and at times it is wisdom to air one's brains; it unheats them.  But a woman who habitually complaints against a man is quibbling.  Either live with him, and hold your tongue, or act, but don't harp, unless you really mean to keep from being loved.  High praise is no better taste or any less fatal.  Nobody wants his virtues advertised.  A liaison has discretion imposed upon it, but a marriage license is not a permit for publicity."  (Page 37) 

 

"For all her infraction of the rules, a mistress is much more integrated into the larger designs of living than the average wife.  She is not, like a wife, isolated, physically or mentally or emotionally, and thus cornered into defending her own importance.  A mistress is often a very great friend, but she never tries to be a pal or substitute for men friends.  It is simply not the same order of relationship, and she recognizes and defends the right of other orders to exist - partly because she has and needs others for herself.  She is perhaps more like a man, in his human characteristics, that a wife is." (Page 37) 

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