Philip s Gir/is the story of an affair be-

tween a younger woman and an older

man. It investigates love and power,

passion and rationality, through sev-

eral dimensions of heterosexual, filial,

lesbian, and parental love. It explodes

a number of myths about what has

been termed "the mentor condition,"

by sbifting the power in the affair

from the teacher to the student, from

the icon to the worshipper. The book

turns on some of the larger issues that

take it beyond romance--the attrac-

tive and continual battle between rea-

son and passion.

The story is told in a straightfor-

ward prose that is at once accessible

and revealing in its description of the

characters and events.