A Generous Spirit: Selected Works by Beth Brant

by Janice Gould (editor), Beth Brant

A Generous Spirit: Selected Work by Beth Brant collects the writing of Beth Brant, Mohawk lesbian poet, essayist, and activist. During her life, Brant's work gave voice to an often unacknowledged Two-Spirit identity, and today, her words represent continued strength, growth, and connection in the face of deep suffering. A Generous Spirit is Brant's portrait of survival and empathy at the intersection of Native American and lesbian experience. Edited by noted Native poet and scholar Janice Gould, A Generous Spirit recounts and enacts the continuance of her people and her sisters with distinct, organic voices and Brant's characteristic warmth. Her work is a simultaneous cry of grief and celebration of human compassion and connection in its shared experience. Through storytelling, her characters wrest their own voices from years of silence and find communion with other souls.

Genres: Indigenous, Short Stories, Lesbian, Poetry, Queer, Nonfiction, Essays

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2019

Reviews

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. It is rare to find a book by a Native American lesbian. The stories. Especially A Long Story and Turtle were wonderful and brought me to tears. The essays are really worth reading because we get to the concerns of a lesbian Indian. Her discussion of racism and exclusion of Native people from literature, her affirmation of learning the ways of whites in getting her story out there are all there. There are some beautiful quotes but better to just read the book.

[Charlott · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Liz Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting an early start to IndigAThon, and I'm glad I started with this book!

Beth Brant's work is really interesting, and if anything, I wanted more context for her and for her work. It's clear that she was publishing at a time when marginalized writers were only getting their work out there through independent publishers, and that she was part of a serious grassroots movement. She was clearly a badass.

Her short stories are good, and they center on native identity as well as gay and lesbian relationships—Brant herself came out as an adult, after she left an abusive marriage. The stories range from heartbreaking to funny and playful. I particularly liked the one about Fox and Coyote. Definitely read that one for a delightful twist on a folktale!

The real punch for me, though, came in Brant's essays. She is blunt and unapologetic about her sexuality, her pride in her heritage, and her anger at the prejudice she encounters in society. My favorite was probably Anodynes and Amulets, which was a brutal takedown of New Age religion and the white consumerism it can promote. If you ever need to explain why non-indigenous people shouldn't say they have "Spirit Animals," just give them this essay.

You can tell from the intro and conclusion to this book that Beth Brant meant a lot to a lot of women, and when you read her work, you can see why. I'm glad I have gotten to know at least a little of her from this collection.

[Care · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Subilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you think I cried at every short story and essay you would be absolutely correct

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beth was a very cool, 2spirit indigenous woman, a proper feminist that was wayyyyy before her time unfortunately. I wish her writing was talked about more. NetGalley review.