Customer Reviews

The "M" Word: Writers on Same-Sex Marriage

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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."