Popular Culture Review Vol. 1, December 1989 | Page 32
had never seen such soul in a creature’s eyes...And she’s right.
She’s right you know. Davy’s soul is in D avy’s beauty; it’s
poignant that Davy himself can never experience his own soul.
Beauty is all that matters in him, and Beauty is always empty,
always on the outside. Isn’t it?” (130).
“An Old-Fashioned Girl’’ adds an ironic twist to the Beauty
and the Beast myth in that Davy stands as a contradiction to both the
Beast and Cupid. He is as beautiful as Cupid, but there is no “god,”
nor “prince” lurking beneath his gorgeous facade. There is only a
mass of wires and computer chips. But, however “empty” Davy’s
beauty may be, it suffices to please his companion. Russ’ heroine’s
satisfaction comes from appreciating this beautiful appearance.
D avy’s exterior beauty is all the truth that she needs.
Perhaps the most unique and fascinating reconstruction of the
Beauty and the Beast legend in popular literature is Mrs. Caliban,
a humorous but tragic story o f a suburban housewife’s relationship
with a strange, lizard-like creature.
In 1983 Rachel Ingalls published this astonishing novel which
details the affair between a middle-aged woman named Dorothy
Caliban and a six-foot-seven-inch “Aquarius Man” complete with
webbed hands and feet, and green, scaly skin. Ingalls avoids
creating a farce by her genuinely serious tone in describing the
growing love of Mrs. Caliban for the Beast which she names Larry.
A t first Dorothy treats the giant lizard as a houseguest,
cooking special meals for him and explaining such foreign con
cepts as television and dancing. Eventually she begins to fall in
love with Larry and tenderly works at making him disguises so the
couple may go out in public together. She buys him a huge
overcoat, a large man’s hat, sunglasses, and cardboard boxes which
she designs into shoes for his odd-shaped feet. She even teaches
Larry to drive. In his disguise they are able to take trips to the beach
where Larry can swim in his natural environment.
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