Introduction

The second protagonist of Martín Gaite's 1992 novel, Nubosidad variable, also makes a descent to the inner world through writing, and her story retells another ancient myth. Through the series of writing exercises Sofía Montalvo does at the behest of her friend Mariana León, Carmen Martín Gaite retells the familiar story of Demeter and Persephone. The descent by the goddess Inanna, discussed in Chapter 4, was voluntary. While there are some broad similarities with this later myth, there are far more important differences. However, Martín Gaite, in her retelling, brings the two myths closer together.

Demeter and Persephone

The myth of Demeter and Persephone is regarded by Jung as a feminine myth and has been interpreted in various ways with different emphases. All begin with Zeus, god of the sky, allowing or encouraging his brother Hades, god of the underworld, to take Zeus's daughter Core as his wife, without regard for the wishes of either Core or her mother Demeter, goddess of the cornfield. At the start of the myth, the young goddess Core is playing with her friends and picking flowers. Graves cites Ovid in identifying the flowers as poppies and argues that, as well as the association of poppies with Demeter and other goddesses, ‘Core picks or accepts poppies because of the soporific qualities, and because of their scarlet colour which promises resurrection after death.’ The Homeric Hymn to Demeter names a range of flowers – roses, crocuses, violets, irises, hyacinths and a narcissus. All are identified with spring, which connects them with rebirth, particularly as they are planted in autumn and stay hidden in the ground throughout the winter, which connects them with Core's future life pattern. Hall identifies Core's companions as Athena and Artemis.

Core strays away from her companions on seeing a beautiful, strongly perfumed, thousand-petalled narcissus and bends over to admire and possess it. The flower has been placed there by Gaia, goddess of Earth and sister to the conspiring gods. Narcissus is also the youth who fell in love on seeing his own image reflected back to him from clear water – the white narcissus flower springing up where his blood spilt after killing himself when he found he could not possess himself. It is one of the plants sacred to the god of the underworld.