The "M" Word: Writers on Same-Sex Marriage [Paperback]

Kathy Pories (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

As it heads through the courts, dividing the nation and shaping the political landscape, the issue of same-sex marriage is becoming one of the major civil-rights battles of our generation. Now, some of the country's finest writers, gay and straight, explore the nuances of one of the most complicated issues of our time.

Drawing on personal experiences or culling from history, the headlines, or their own fertile imaginations, eleven noted writers present an all-too-human look at gay matrimony and its implications for marriage in general—and how our traditional marriages both influence and measure up to these new unions.

With essays by Francine Prose, on what would have happened if Oscar Wilde had married his lover; George Saunders, on the need to outlaw not only same-sex marriages but also samish-sex marriages; Dan Savage, on the supposed value of monogamy within marriage; Wendy Brenner, on giving her best friend away in a gay marriage; and many others. The M Word reminds us that marriage of any sort is an institution now ready for reexamination.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Algonquin editor Pories’s timely anthology argues, with energy and heart, that all Americans, gay or straight, should have the right to marry. Contributors include marquee names (Francine Prose, George Saunders) and new talent (Alexander Chee, Wendy McClure) working in fiction, memoir and satire (e.g., Saunders’s call for a ban on "Samish-Sex Marriage"). Prose’s entry, which begins as an imagined wedding announcement for Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, ends with a condemnation of what she sees as marriage’s "restrictive and conservative face." Wendy Brenner offers a sweet tribute to a wedding in which she gave away one of the grooms. Perhaps the finest essay is Kathleen Finneran’s candid recollection of an adolescent infatuation. Never having even heard of homosexuality, Finneran stumbles over her longing for a female English teacher, publicizing it with the presentation of a Crock-Pot at school and drive-bys of her teacher’s house. Years later, amid a "political fracas" over Missouri’s proposed ban on gay marriage, she contemplates the humiliating birthday gift and wishes she could see her two beloved lesbian friends celebrate a big, official wedding. This volume isn’t for the unconverted, but it’s witty, wise reading.
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From Booklist

Editor Pories offers a fascinating collection of wide-ranging essays by gay and straight hands on the political hot potato that is gay marriage. George Saunders argues that not only same-sex marriage should be forbidden; sameish sex partnerings, as when a mannish woman weds an effeminate man, should be, too, and he advances a numerical scale of gender characteristics for such prohibition. What, asks Francine Prose, if the notorious Oscar Wilde had wed his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, complete with Salome-themed reception and banal news coverage? Straight woman Wendy Brenner writes movingly of the joy and honor she felt "giving away" her dear friend Jamie at his wedding to Bradley, and as she strives to do justice to "the enormity and legitimacy of the occasion," she encapsulates the ever-expanding concepts of community and union. Fascinating and even necessary reading in this time of social transition, these essays ought to be of interest to plenty of mainstream readers, not just gender-studies mavens. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books (October 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565124545
• ISBN-13: 978-1565124547
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,834,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The "M" Word: Writers on Same-Sex Marriage (Paperback)

On this day of national mourning occasioned by Jerry Falwell's death, I chanced upon a little read and unnoticed book published by tiny, valiant Algonquin Books and edited by the indefatigable Kathy Pories on same-sex marriage, a topic Falwell got rich on.

It is a well edited and interesting compilation of some talented writers' speculations on same sex marriage, the "M" word as Pories calls it. Maybe part of the reason this book didn't do so well is that even 3 years back when this book limped into the bookstores, people were sick and tired of the coy, cute "M" word/ "L" word/ "N" word/ "F" word nonsense, and beyond that, people don't want to have to guess, and face it, "marriage" isn't exactly the first thing you'd think of when you hear about the M word.

Also probably no one was waiting with bated breath for George Saunders' take on gay marriage, and what could possibly have induced him to believe they were? He's the go-to guy on all sorts of topics, and America's favorite surrealist, and our second favorite social satirist, but has public approval clouded Saunders' judgment or does he really think his opinions relevant on, well, everything? Actually his piece here is one of the best in the book and one of the best I've read by him. Thoughtful Kathy Pories, who does a nice job also bringing obscure Southern writers to the light with her series of "Best Southern Writing," has opened the door not only to essays about same-sex marriage, but to short stories too. These are mostly of lesser value, and some mere tripe. Wonder why this should be? Perhaps the Tolstoy or Toni Morrison of same-sex marriage has not yet appeared in our ken. Stacey D'Erasmo contributes some good strong common sense regarding the so-called "divisiveness" of gay marriage. Why even here in good old San Francisco where I live, three blocks from City Hall where Mayor Gavin Newsom opened his bronze doors to thousands of gay and lesbian couples, it is still a rebarbative issue, "both within the gay community," writes D'Erasmo, "and within individual people, because it forces the question of whether one believes in the possibility of marriage at all, much less a good one."