Scan barcode
cypress_the_tree's review against another edition
Just time either library loan, will be coming back
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
5.0
4,5
I am so thankful that Lambda Literary shortlisted "A Generous Spirit. Selected Work by Beth Brant" for Lesbian Fiction this year because that made me pick up the book. I had known of Mohawk lesbian writer Beth Brant before but had not read texts by her, I think.
This collection - edited by Janic Gould - not only includes short fiction but also essays and poems. The Foreword by Lee Maracle and introduction by Janice Gould alone are worth picking up the book as they celebrate Beth Brant's work and situate her and her work in a wider context. And then there are Beth Brant's texts which are funny, thoughtful, educational, emotional.
Her short stories are written in a more simple, not too frilly, but very effective style. In "Coyote Learns a New Trick" she plays with the coyote trickster figure and tells a fun tale with femme-butch vibes. David, the protagonist of "This Place", is a young gay man who had left his home but comes back when he is dying of AIDS and finds some closure and healing. "Food&Spirits" is a lovely, heartwarming story about a grandfather travelling to see his adult granddaughters and the people he meets on the way over breaking bread.
Beth Brant's essays are written in quite a different style but equally fantastic. One of the texts introduced me for example to E. Pauline Johnson's "A Strong Race Opinion: On the Indian Girl in Modern Fiction" which is a brilliant essay from 1892 (!).
Sadly, Beth Brant died in 2015. Janice Gould passed away last year. I will now go and try to get my hands on more of each of their work.
I am so thankful that Lambda Literary shortlisted "A Generous Spirit. Selected Work by Beth Brant" for Lesbian Fiction this year because that made me pick up the book. I had known of Mohawk lesbian writer Beth Brant before but had not read texts by her, I think.
This collection - edited by Janic Gould - not only includes short fiction but also essays and poems. The Foreword by Lee Maracle and introduction by Janice Gould alone are worth picking up the book as they celebrate Beth Brant's work and situate her and her work in a wider context. And then there are Beth Brant's texts which are funny, thoughtful, educational, emotional.
Her short stories are written in a more simple, not too frilly, but very effective style. In "Coyote Learns a New Trick" she plays with the coyote trickster figure and tells a fun tale with femme-butch vibes. David, the protagonist of "This Place", is a young gay man who had left his home but comes back when he is dying of AIDS and finds some closure and healing. "Food&Spirits" is a lovely, heartwarming story about a grandfather travelling to see his adult granddaughters and the people he meets on the way over breaking bread.
Beth Brant's essays are written in quite a different style but equally fantastic. One of the texts introduced me for example to E. Pauline Johnson's "A Strong Race Opinion: On the Indian Girl in Modern Fiction" which is a brilliant essay from 1892 (!).
Sadly, Beth Brant died in 2015. Janice Gould passed away last year. I will now go and try to get my hands on more of each of their work.
creativehiatus's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
maggie_naph's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful collection. It was a privilege to read so many of these stories and writings. I loved that many of them had queer love on the page, how radical especially for the time. The author is the first known queer Indigenous woman to be published. She was a matriarch and is a timeless icon.
I learned a lot about the history of publishing Indigenous writing, especially Indigenous women's writing. The first published Indigenous woman was an Okanagan woman (Okanagan Syilx are local to my area). Cogewea: The Half Blood by Mourning Dove. How did I not know that?!
Highly recommend so many of these works.
Content warnings for: discussion of AIDS and depiction of terminal illness, physically and psychologically abusive relationships, mentions of alcohol and drug addiction, colonial violence, homophobia, discussion of prejudice against Two-Spirit, queer, and trans people.
I learned a lot about the history of publishing Indigenous writing, especially Indigenous women's writing. The first published Indigenous woman was an Okanagan woman (Okanagan Syilx are local to my area). Cogewea: The Half Blood by Mourning Dove. How did I not know that?!
Highly recommend so many of these works.
Content warnings for: discussion of AIDS and depiction of terminal illness, physically and psychologically abusive relationships, mentions of alcohol and drug addiction, colonial violence, homophobia, discussion of prejudice against Two-Spirit, queer, and trans people.
justabean_reads's review
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Sinister Wisdom Press is doing a "Sapphic Classics" series republishing older lesbian/queer woman writing so that it doesn't get forgotten. (I just tried to find out more about it, but to be honest their web presence is kind of scattered). Anyway, I'm glad they put this together, as I was entirely unfamiliar with Beth Brant's writing, and it seems from the multiple forwards and afterwards that she was very important to two-spirit writing in the 1980s and '90s. Keeping history alive is such a struggle.
This is a slim book, actually published as an issue of the magazine, containing short stories, poetry and essays by Brant. The stories are mostly from the '80s, and you can really see Brant develop as a writer as the book carries forward. I really liked how much attention she paid to dialogue and feeling of place. All the characters are working class, many are queer, many are Indigenous, usually Mohawk like Brant, and the mix of the three informs how they go. Some of the stories felt a little didactic, but most of them sidestepped that by focusing on people finding human connections and help in unlikely places, and defying the world that's trying to grind them down by surviving and thriving and not having to give up who they are. The essays are mostly about anti-Indigenous racism and the damage done by colonialism, but the focus was, again, on the work of healing and the work of community happening within what Joshua Whitehead would call the Indigiqueer community. It kind of feels like the conversation about cultural appropriation and centring #OwnVoices has been stuck in a loop for the last thirty years though, gotta say.
Well worth reading, and I hope that we start seeing more two-spirit writing getting republished like this.
This is a slim book, actually published as an issue of the magazine, containing short stories, poetry and essays by Brant. The stories are mostly from the '80s, and you can really see Brant develop as a writer as the book carries forward. I really liked how much attention she paid to dialogue and feeling of place. All the characters are working class, many are queer, many are Indigenous, usually Mohawk like Brant, and the mix of the three informs how they go. Some of the stories felt a little didactic, but most of them sidestepped that by focusing on people finding human connections and help in unlikely places, and defying the world that's trying to grind them down by surviving and thriving and not having to give up who they are. The essays are mostly about anti-Indigenous racism and the damage done by colonialism, but the focus was, again, on the work of healing and the work of community happening within what Joshua Whitehead would call the Indigiqueer community. It kind of feels like the conversation about cultural appropriation and centring #OwnVoices has been stuck in a loop for the last thirty years though, gotta say.
Well worth reading, and I hope that we start seeing more two-spirit writing getting republished like this.
More...