Queereaders discussion

Hi everyone! Thank you for welcoming me to the group. I'm Wendy from New Orleans. I am an historian by training, and I love to read Southern stuff, Australian and Irish fiction, and classics that I somehow missed along the way. I also frequently read Buddhist books, and some random stuff just because I like the title. Looking forward to ... whatever! --W.

Hi Wendy,

You have quite a variety of interests! I really need to spend more time reading classics.

Do you have any suggestions for good Southern fiction?

Tobacco Road, Andersonville, Gone with the Wind and I must mention yet again Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders which takes place on the Georgia coast in the present to 70 or so years in the future. It concerns the lives of 'poor', Gay black men and boys.

Then of course there's William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams...

I'm not sure why Delany scares me a little.

Nancy wrote: "I'm not sure why Delany scares me a little."

A lot of his stuff forces the reader to work hard. But this one is an easy read. There are layers of course, but the prose flows wonderfully.

Nancy: don't get me started! I think I can say with confidence that I love and breathe everything by William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Ernest Gaines, and I really love Richard Wright. "Light in August" is one of my all-time favorite novels, and "The Known World" by Edward Jones is brilliant. I would highly recommend it. Oh! And "Property" by Valerie Martin is excellent.

Kernos wrote: "Nancy wrote: "I'm not sure why Delany scares me a little."

A lot of his stuff forces the reader to work hard. But this one is an easy read. There are layers of course, but the prose flows wonderfu..."

It's 97 degrees right now and we're in for a heat wave. The last thing I want to do is work hard. Maybe I'll save him for the fall.

Wendy wrote: "Nancy: don't get me started! I think I can say with confidence that I love and breathe everything by William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Ernest Gaines, and I really love Richard Wright. "Light i..."


Thank you, Wendy. I'm going to add those titles to my shelf. I'm familiar with all the authors you mentioned except for Edward Jones and Valerie Martin.

Edward Jones' novel is about "mulatto" Southerners who own slaves. Some of it is very funny. "Property" is about the effect of slavery on white and black women. Those are really two of my favorite books about the South, and they were both published in the last decade. :)

I've often wondered how white slaveowners (who were predominantly Christian, I believe) reconcile their religious beliefs with owning another human being.

Have you read Octavia Butler's Kindred?

I've loved Octavia Butler's SF and Fantasy. I've not read her 'non-genre' novels.

Nancy wrote: "I've often wondered how white slaveowners (who were predominantly Christian, I believe) reconcile their religious beliefs with owning another human being...?"

I've often wondered how many Christians, esp the vocal ones, reconcile many of their beliefs with reality.

Nancy wrote: "I've often wondered how white slaveowners (who were predominantly Christian, I believe) reconcile their religious beliefs with owning another human being.

Have you read Octavia Butler's Kindred?"

I have read Kindred. I assigned it to my classes a couple of times. I like it a lot, however I'm not a big science fiction fan.

Nancy wrote: "I've often wondered how white slaveowners (who were predominantly Christian, I believe) reconcile their religious beliefs with owning another human being.

Have you read Octavia Butler's Kindred?"

Nancy, there's a whole history of religion, spirituality, the American slaveholding. It's a question I've also asked myself, and the answer tends to be that people can separate their morality with the reality of their daily lives. Even when they're in very stark contrast. And of course the bible can be used to justify anything...

Kernos sais this weeks ago I've loved Octavia Butler's SF and Fantasy. I've not read her 'non-genre' novels.

In my opinion she doesn't have any. All have fantasy/ science fictional elements, sometimes both...

Kindred is a novel about slavery, but Butler uses time travel to access the time period. (I've taught it too-- and my students had more difficulty comprehending the "modern" setting of 1976...) Slavery is a common theme of Butler's. It's also in Wild Seed, which is more fantasy, as it's set in the beginning anyway, when the triangle trade is relatively new. And Dawn is definately sf. Her short story "Bloodchild" in Bloodchild and Other Stories is her mpreg story, is a story about paying rent, she said. And slavery says me.

I'm sure there's a slavery aspect to Fledgling, I just can't remember it. Guess it's time for a reread! Slavery as protection in a dystopian world, is one the discussions that goes on in Parable of the Sower.