Sybils! (review)

—. Traditional Oral Epic: The Odyssey, Beowulf and the Serbo-Croatian Return Song. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1 990. Goody, Jack. The Interface between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Havelock, Eric. The Literate Revolution in Greece and its Cultural Consequences. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1982. —. The Muse Learns to Write. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1 986. Lord, Albert Bates. The Singer ofTaUs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960. Ong, Walter. Orality and Literacy: The Technohgizing ofthe Word. London: Methuen, 1982. Parry, Milman. The Making ofHomeric Verse: The ColUctedPapers ofMilman Parry. Ed. Adam Parry. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971. Penglase, Charles. Greek Myths andMesopotamia:paralUls and influence in the Homeric hymns andHesiod. London: Routledge, 1994. West, M. L. The East Face ofHelicon: WestAsiatic EUments in Greek Poetry andMyth. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. SybihlCD-ROM. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1999. Maureen Jane Smith University of Idaho As a long-time feminist and medievalist, I was delighted with the prospect of reviewing SybiUF\\\\% CD-ROM, whose primary focus is women in Western Europe from the years 800 to 1600, is the second version ofwhat the authors term a "work in progress" — a project ofMcMasters Working Group on the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The authors, all women whose backgrounds include French, music, history, English, and women's studies, gratefully acknowledge the financial support of McMaster University. The CD-ROM promised and, with some qualifications, proved to be a valuable resource. The CD should work for both PCs and Macs, but I initially encountered a somewhat circular and frustrating effort in installing the product into my CD/ DVD drive, and minimal installation instructions are provided on the CD-ROM's inside jacket. With perseverance, I was finally able to load. From the main menu, we may choose to explore the Introduction, Timeline, Scriptorium, Further Pathways , Queens and Courtiers, Women and Spirituality, and Women and the Law. 98 * ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW + FALL 2000 Users are informed in the Introduction that they are about to enter an interactive exploration ofwomen in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. We are told that this CD-ROM has been called Syhib!"'m recognition ofthosewomen ofancient times, who relayed the words ofgods to humanity, gave advice, and foretold the future!" There is brief mention that this CD-ROM is the second version on Medieval/ Renaissance women, focusing this time on three principal areas: "the realm of Queens and Courtiers, the area ofWomen and Spirituality, and the Law and its impact on the lives of medieval women." Within "Queens and Courtiers," the CD-ROM investigates women's lives inside castles: rulers like Matilda of Flanders, Matilda ofTuscany, Joan of Kent, Women at the Court of Edward III, as well as intellectual women, such as Christine de Pisan, who worked inside the courts. The article on Christine is solely in French, which provides a potential problem for some readers. A sub-link on the "Women at the Court ofEdward III" provides a genealogical chart ofinfluential women connected to King Edward. "Women and Spirituality" discusses how the Church presented some women with opportunities for intellectual development, power, and influence, but also demanded significant sacrifices and expected conformity to what was for many an unattainable ideal. This link is complex and offers multiple sub-links covering topics such as the influence of the Virgin Mary as a role model for all medieval women; the opportunity to explore the lives ofseveral devoted religious women, such as Joan of Arc, Catherine of Genoa, Isabeau of Bavière, Constance of Robastens, and Marguerite Porete; an examination ofwhat communal life may have been like for Christian women; and a complete English translation ofa heretofore unpublished Italian manuscript on the Rule ofSaint Claire from the early 1 5th century.There areseveral sub-linkswhich offer visual images offemale saints, identifying their years and their feast days. An explanation ofpilgrimages provides discussion on where women traveled to pay homage and what constituted a pilgrimage for them. A "Nuns and Solitaries" link provides informative streaming video presentations. However, this kind ofvideo is choppy visually and the mismatches offacial expressions to the words are at times disconcerting. "Medieval Law" touches on the impact of Church regulations on the...