GLR March-April 2023

B R I E F S adamantly, eloquently strange, and touching, as if language itself had to pause.”

Less into driving him in a camper van through the Southwest on a search for his daughter. Following him for multiple chap ters makes this cranky figure feel sympa thetic. Borrowing the van, Less carries the set for a theater troupe through the South as they perform a play based on his short story. A running joke begins when, his first night at a RV park, the owner asks if he is “from the Netherlands.” Greer generally skips over recent tumul tuous events in America, not mentioning Trump, anti-vaxxers, or Covid. The one ex ception is a scene set on a plantation, where a Black tour guide discusses the slaves. Along the way, Less meets his father, who vanished when Less was a child. Other mis adventures leave him feeling that “I made a fool of myself!” Less is Lost makes us laugh at Less, but in an understanding way. C HARLES G REEN poignant honesty. Ranging from Queer The ory to French literary criticism, A Minor Chorus is a moving and enlightening blend of poetic prose and literary theory. Drawing from the early structuralist work of Roland Barthes and the phenomenological methods of Judith Butler, Belcourt creates a text that engages the reader with a novel-like narra tive and frequently dives into essay-like meditations. Opening with a journey narra tive that takes the speaker to a meeting with a friend and university colleague, originally from a reserve in Northern Alberta, a conflict between the creative life and the academic life is set up at the outset. The Canadian prison system, specifically the Edmonton Alberta Remand Centre, be comes a looming character at the core of the novel as Belcourt speaks of “an era defined by a systematic assault on Indigenous liv ability: death schools, open-air prisons, child abductions.” By the end of the novel, just before giving a lengthy and heartbreak ing monologue, he quotes at length a writer who contributed formidably to his self awareness as an artist: James Baldwin. With this final reference to Baldwin—to the or nate façades and the grim interiors of na tional sites of oppression, and a return to a primary prison narrative within the novel— Belcourt creates this “minor chorus,” this simultaneously “loud and quiet” act of pow erful, beautifully crafted resistance. D AVID B ATEMAN A MINOR CHORUS: A Novel by Billy-Ray Belcourt W.W. Norton. 176 pages, $14.95 Billy-Ray Belcourt’s position as a writer, poet, and academic from the Driftpile Cree Nation informs his debut novel with a

NOVEL APPROACHES TO LESBIAN HISTORY by Linda Garber

Another criterion in her assemblage was the “undermining of normalcy.” While the luminaries provide the conceptual palimpsest for the compilation, contemporary artists re alize its ambitious vision. Sex abounds with Bob Flanagan’s sadomasochist kink, Samuel Delany’s celebration of public sex, and Kevin Killian’s boyhood trysts. Death per meates Rebecca Brown’s and Robert Glück’s stories of AIDS caregiving as well as Rose Feliu-Pettet’s detailing of Allen Ginsberg’s deathbed theatrics. Trauma, addiction, and resiliency resound with Porochista Khakpour, and surrealism infuses Can Xue’s mother’s death and Dennis Cooper’s conver sations with a snowman. Identity is upended through Michelle Tea’s visit to Poland, Kathy Acker’s childhood memories, Jack Halberstam’s investigation of nothingness, and Tongo Eisen-Martin’s wariness of white ness. Emotions careen as Andrea Dworkin rages against convention, Judy Grahn rumi nates on the fragility of life, Chantal Aker man converses with her elderly mother, and Layli Long Soldier conjures up the execution of 38 Dakota men. More arcane selections include Myles’ own 1991 campaign an nouncement for president and a play by Va lerie Solanas, the women who shot Andy Warhol for refusing to produce it. This far-flung, idiosyncratic collection of transgressive poems, plays, and prose is laser-focused on celebrating the outsider—a resplendent affirmation of humanity. J OHN R. K ILLACKY This is a funny sequel to the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Less , continuing the misad ventures of author Arthur Less. In this installment, Less, suddenly in arrears on his property taxes, travels the U.S. on various assignments. Along the way, he finds himself in comic incidents and heartfelt moments. There are nice continuities between the two novels. Less’ lover Freddy Pelu narrates both, though he has more of a presence here, going on solo adventures. Even though Freddy honestly describes Less’ challenges, like his “clumsiness of the heart,” their love comes through in the end. Characters from Less appear here as well, including Less’ for mer lover, poet Robert Brownburn, who left Less the cottage that he and Freddy inhabit. As Less’ first full relationship, Robert, now dying, haunts Freddy and Less. H.H.H. Man dern also reappears, now the subject of a profile by Less. The sci-fi author cajoles LESS IS LOST by Andrew Sean Greer Little, Brown & Co. 228 pages, $29.

Palgrave Macmillan. 198 pages, $119.99 “Whose truth gets told?” asks Linda Garber, an associate professor at Santa Clara Univer sity, California, in this compact overview of the history of lesbian historical fiction, from its emergence to its contemporary practice. While it’s impossible, even with the rise of digital resources, to locate every English language lesbian historical novel, Garber found about 200 whose stories were set prior to 1930, and it’s notable that the majority of these were written in the 21st century. The author argues that a work of fiction rooted in historical fact can be an effective tool for filling the gaps in our knowledge. Novels by some of the best-known lesbian writers (such as “the triumvirate” of British-born novelists—Jeanette Winterson, Emma Donoghue, and Sarah Waters) are explored, as are works by many others who are not as well known. Writers of lesbian historical fiction know how to take that “single woman” or “bache lorette” or “old maid” in the mainstream historical record and create an entirely believ able, multi-layered world and a deeply fasci nating and fulfilling life. Garber discusses subgenres in lesbian historical fiction, from pirates to Parisian salons, westerns to the Civil War, and she quotes a character from Paula Martinac’s award-winning Out of Time (1990), who says that “fascination with pre cise facts and dates left no room for intuition or imagination. Or romance.” While aimed at a college audience, this book is free of Queer Theory jargon except in the occasional quota tion. Most chapters end with lengthy bibli ographies, and the author proposes several historical figures who have yet to receive the full attention of a lesbian novelist, such as Frida Kahlo, Josephine Baker, and Harlem Renaissance entertainer Gladys Bentley. M ARTHA E. S TONE Lammy-Award-winning poet and writer Eileen Myles, whose work illuminates the sublime quotidian of everyday life, curates a global anthology with 106 contributors re claiming the meaning of pathos —inspiring emotion and feelings. Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Simone Weil, Rumi, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jorge Luis Borges, and Victor Hugo are interspersed among lesser-known and emerging literary voices, including many queer and trans writers. Myles writes of the book: “This gathering is not so much queer as PATHETIC LITERATURE Edited by Eileen Myles Grove Press. 672 pages, $34.

The G & LR

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