“EICH-ME-REAL-DA” BY CHERYLENE DE JAGER (PhD)
Prof.
Anton Muller
Eich-me-real-da,
Elizabeth and Eliza were good friends at university, but as is wont to happen
and despite the best of intentions, they eventually lost regular contact. The reader joins the three ladies at a reunion
breakfast (Elizabeth’s celebration of the big 50) where Elizabeth and her
husband soon excuse themselves and depart , leaving Eliza and Eich-me-real-da to catch up by
exchanging a few notes in the margin. The life story of Eich-me-real-da unfolds
along the lines of the men she gets involved with in her life, from Jacobus the
dentist whom she married as a somewhat inexperienced lady (and prematurely lost
due to his untimely death), and key encounters with men (her “convenient research
samples”) (p. 34) who “assisted” her in the practical exploration of her feminine
sensuality (the accumulation of her so-called erotic portfolio and her erotic
capital (p. 34)). The reader therefore
meets Ahmed in Egypt (Chapter 5), Christos in Athens in Greece (Chapter 6), a
blond Adonis in Sodwana (Chapter 7) and the silver-haired fox (Chapter 9). Chapter
8 refers to an interlude in Beijing, a precious experience “... not meant to be
shared” (p. 127). What happened in Beijing
, remains in Beijing ...
After the
passing of Jacobus and an unmistakeable awareness of a sensuality that did not
reach full bloom in their relationship, Eich-me- a-real-da, as she states “... consciously
became aware of the possibilities my senses posed. I decided to embark on a
lifelong pursuit of pleasure. I chose to start to celebrate my sensuality!” (p.
31). In this exploration, Eich-me-real-da
commences with research on the sensual experiences of women and the outcomes of
this research are reported and presented in Chapters 2, 3 and 4. In Chapter 2 a
journey begins that commences with magazines for women and culminates in Chapter
3 where the concept of erotic capital is
explored and illustrated employing a number of key resources and publications.
In Chapter 4 the literature review is continued and augmented by visits to “sensuality
boutiques” that provide literature and play products aimed at increasing
sensual and erotic pleasure. As the
sensual exploration progressed, Eich-me-real-da’s asset register had grown accordingly (p. 91).
To stimulate
and involve the reader, each chapter ends with a few pointers: an aphrodisiac,
a Kama Sutra tip, suggestions for mood music, and a recipe for an appropriate
cocktail. Each chapter is also dedicated
to the experiences that women typically make. The reader
does of course soon come to the realisation that the novelette does not simply
stagnate on the sensual level. The sensual level is but one dimension of a more
profound canvas that relates to self-empowerment
and self-knowledge that Eich-me-real-da
is seeking and that she encourages other women to find (p. 31). An exploration
of female sensuality (justified in its own right) is just a beginning, the
foreground that aims at the empowerment
of women as final destination: “I want to assist women to take control of
their own sexual destiny at the moment of sensual awakening, or at the very
least, to ignite sufficient curiosity to empower themselves with knowledge.
Knowledge empowers one and provides one with the confidence to make informed
decisions” (p. 157/158).
Cherylene writes
easily and tends like Jilly Cooper to produce the so-called “one-liner” with an
own dexterity. The word play is at times
subtle and at other times leaves little to the imagination: “I had a screaming orgasm with a view of the
Acropolis!” (p. 108). The novelette presents a pleasant reading experience,
subtle, at other times hilarious, but never crude. The ladies (and in some cases men!) will be
swept up by Eich-me-real-da’s research and relationship journey through life in
the interest of achieving (self)knowledge and (self)empowerment for every woman.
