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A review by half_book_and_co
A Generous Spirit: Selected Works by Beth Brant by Beth Brant
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.