LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia ed. by Jeff Mann & Julia Watts

Abstract

Reviewed by: LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia ed. by Jeff Mann & Julia Watts Melissa Helton (bio) Jeff Mann & Julia Watts, eds. LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia. Morgantown, W. Va.: West Virginia University Press, 2019. 288 pages. Softcover. $29.99. Jeff Mann & Julia Watts, eds. LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia. Morgantown, W. Va.: West Virginia University Press, 2019. 288 pages. Softcover. $29.99. If asked to describe yourself, what words would you choose? Most of our identities do not conflict with each other. Poet and environmentalist are pretty compatible. Mother and educator don't seem too antagonistic. What about queer and Appalachian? Trans and rural? LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia, edited by Jeff Mann and Julia Watts, crosses into spaces where "queer" and "Appalachian" can be contentious or complementary, showing how queer lives play out in those spaces in all their beautiful and challenging intricacies. The introduction to the collection states the goal is to show that "queer" and "Appalachian" don't have to be mutually exclusive. The collection achieves that goal, but not without some noticeable missteps. The collection is full of well-established names: Dorothy Allison, Silas House, Aaron Smith, Ann Pancake, and others, including the editors themselves. These writers are powerhouses in their craft and have proven themselves fearless in their LGBTQ writings and their commitment to the region. The pieces take readers into spaces they may or may not recognize. In "Saving," a short story by Carter Sickels, the main character visits Mamaw in the nursing home where she suffers dementia and hasn't seen her trans grandson since [End Page 133] before his transition. The narrator of one of Savannah Sipple's poems shops at Walmart with Jesus. "Handling Dynamite," a short story by Watts, centers on a deep mine and a coal company town. Many pieces address the common struggle of do-I-stay-or-do-I-go that has fueled the Appalachian diaspora for generations, particularly for queer Appalachians. This, predictably, is often followed by the frequent desire—or requirement—to return "home." While it is clear the editors made it a priority to gather diverse queer voices, the book would have benefitted from more examples of intersectionality in the LGBTQ+ community. The collection lacks an in-depth excavation of when queerness intersects with disability, Black identity (despite doris diosa davenport's poem "Black Lesbian Appalachian Identity," which is celebrated in the editors' note), parenthood, age, or violence. Bisexuality and pansexuality are absent in any meaningful way, which is often all-too-common in queer and straight spaces alike, making the anthology miss an opportunity to be inclusive of members of the LGBTQ+ community who identify as having a plural sexuality. Likewise, while there is work that features transgender characters, they are all trans men, and the collection is lacking a discussion of trans women, nonbinary folks, and those who identify as asexual or intersex. That being said, I am stunned by this collection. So much of queer literature takes place elsewhere or in some amorphous non-place, and the pieces in this book weave together queer and Appalachian identities in ways in which it is tough to tell where one ends and the other begins. I dare say that may be the point. In Jonathan Corcoran's "The Rope Swing," queer desire unravels at the riverbank, a safe place where "an unthinkable touch of the hand, [is] rendered acceptable by the privacy of the forest." Nickole Brown's [End Page 134] poem "To My Grandmother's Ghost, Flying with Me on a Plane" addresses the common conflict between queerness and religion when it asks what her grandmother Fanny thinks of the speaker's life. Additionally, the book offers a gem in its "Selected Bibliography of Same-Sex Desire in Appalachian Literature." It brings to our attention books and writers outside the collection by Davis Grubb, J.T. LeRoy, Lee Smith, and Karen Salyer McElmurray, among others. The bibliography is divided by genre and can be a helpful springboard for personal or scholarly reading lists, as well as a way to find representation in the broader literature missing from the selections in this collection. LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia...