fanfic and original writing by ar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
witticaster) wrote2009-03-10 11:18 pm
witticaster) wrote2009-03-10 11:18 pm
Entry tags:
061
My professor called it a "gorgeous paper" (which means she will be very disappointed by the one I turned in today >>), and I am pretty proud of it myself, considering. So, yeah, posting it. It's my response paper to Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues.
Thunder and Yearning: New Words for a Butch Narrative
Near the end of Stone Butch Blues, Jess is reunited with Frankie, a butch Jess1 previously “put down because [Jess] couldn't deal with the fact that she got turned on by other butches” (271). After a much-needed apology, the beginning of Jess's final leg of the journey to something approaching self-acceptance, the two begin to discuss the problem of silence among butches. This is a pain Jess has only begun to consciously grapple with, the inability to articulate experiences: “Frankie, I've got no words for feelings that are tearing me apart. What would our words sound like?” (275) The text of Stone Butch Blues attempts to answer this question by presenting itself as a butch text, using “ butch words to talk about butch feelings” (275).
This is most evident in the way the novel treats sexual encounters. What we see through Jess' eyes is always failed in some way—the worst are rapes, the best, awkward or aborted positive encounters. The very best of Jess's sexual experiences are never shown; every time the narrative indicates that Jess and Jess's beloved, Theresa, are going to make love, it fades to black without revealing the details of the tryst: “Since I had no words to bring the woman I loved so much, I gave her all my tenderness” (138). Describing these moments with Theresa would reveal a vulnerability Jess is unable to show the world, even in writing; as a “stone butch,” Jess has great difficult in allowing touch from other people, particularly sexually, and notes in the letter to Theresa that “Only you could melt this stone” (11). We as an audience are in no way close enough to Jess to see the stone aspect of Jess's butchness chipped away.
Other sexual acts mentioned in the frame of the story include a gang rape by high school peers (40-41), which is described clinically; Jess's first rape at the hands of the police, which Jess attempts to escape mentally (62-63); the loss of Jess's butch virginity, which is ultimately positive but very awkward (70-73); and an encounter with Ruth, which is over before even beginning (270). Jess is vulnerable in all of these, but Jess's armor, that which makes Jess stone, remains at the core through all of them. Angie, the femme who has the honor of taking Jess's butch virginity, even comments on the fact when they are together: “'What a butch,' she laughed” (73).
Feinberg succeeds in giving these scenes a certain distance from the reader through an emphasis on action over description, perhaps the most notable way in which Stone Butch Blues is a book with a butch voice. The story is long on people doing and saying things, and often almost painfully short on where they are, what year it is, or even what the world looks like, except when the details are especially relevant to the plot arc at hand; the shirt for Jess's first suit is lovingly described—“the buttons were sky blue with white swirls” (59)—but Edwin, one of the most important secondary characters in the novel, is never mentioned as black until Jess asks to go with her to “a Negro club” (54). The emphasis on who Edwin is, what she says and does, comes before the fact that she is dark-skinned.
By the end of the novel, it is clear that Leslie Feinberg's work has found the language that Jess so badly needs. Through hir, Jess has found the words, for the sake of Jess, Theresa, and stone butches everywhere, and the words are indeed different. To talk with integrity about feelings that are just under the surface—as they must be, since butches operate under the pretense of “Feelings? [...] What are those?” (275)—of the butch psyche, the language used must likewise skim the surface of a deep well of thoughts and emotions about the butch experience.
--
1 I do not feel comfortable using any pronoun for Jess, even a gender-neutral one; Jess never expresses a preference for he, she, they, zie, pers, or any other possible word, and I do not feel it's my right to attach one to Jess. I will try to make this as unobtrusive as possible.
--
Aaaaand yeah, it's supposed to be that short. She likes 'em one page, single-spaced. It's both refreshing and terrifying.
Near the end of Stone Butch Blues, Jess is reunited with Frankie, a butch Jess1 previously “put down because [Jess] couldn't deal with the fact that she got turned on by other butches” (271). After a much-needed apology, the beginning of Jess's final leg of the journey to something approaching self-acceptance, the two begin to discuss the problem of silence among butches. This is a pain Jess has only begun to consciously grapple with, the inability to articulate experiences: “Frankie, I've got no words for feelings that are tearing me apart. What would our words sound like?” (275) The text of Stone Butch Blues attempts to answer this question by presenting itself as a butch text, using “ butch words to talk about butch feelings” (275).
This is most evident in the way the novel treats sexual encounters. What we see through Jess' eyes is always failed in some way—the worst are rapes, the best, awkward or aborted positive encounters. The very best of Jess's sexual experiences are never shown; every time the narrative indicates that Jess and Jess's beloved, Theresa, are going to make love, it fades to black without revealing the details of the tryst: “Since I had no words to bring the woman I loved so much, I gave her all my tenderness” (138). Describing these moments with Theresa would reveal a vulnerability Jess is unable to show the world, even in writing; as a “stone butch,” Jess has great difficult in allowing touch from other people, particularly sexually, and notes in the letter to Theresa that “Only you could melt this stone” (11). We as an audience are in no way close enough to Jess to see the stone aspect of Jess's butchness chipped away.
Other sexual acts mentioned in the frame of the story include a gang rape by high school peers (40-41), which is described clinically; Jess's first rape at the hands of the police, which Jess attempts to escape mentally (62-63); the loss of Jess's butch virginity, which is ultimately positive but very awkward (70-73); and an encounter with Ruth, which is over before even beginning (270). Jess is vulnerable in all of these, but Jess's armor, that which makes Jess stone, remains at the core through all of them. Angie, the femme who has the honor of taking Jess's butch virginity, even comments on the fact when they are together: “'What a butch,' she laughed” (73).
Feinberg succeeds in giving these scenes a certain distance from the reader through an emphasis on action over description, perhaps the most notable way in which Stone Butch Blues is a book with a butch voice. The story is long on people doing and saying things, and often almost painfully short on where they are, what year it is, or even what the world looks like, except when the details are especially relevant to the plot arc at hand; the shirt for Jess's first suit is lovingly described—“the buttons were sky blue with white swirls” (59)—but Edwin, one of the most important secondary characters in the novel, is never mentioned as black until Jess asks to go with her to “a Negro club” (54). The emphasis on who Edwin is, what she says and does, comes before the fact that she is dark-skinned.
By the end of the novel, it is clear that Leslie Feinberg's work has found the language that Jess so badly needs. Through hir, Jess has found the words, for the sake of Jess, Theresa, and stone butches everywhere, and the words are indeed different. To talk with integrity about feelings that are just under the surface—as they must be, since butches operate under the pretense of “Feelings? [...] What are those?” (275)—of the butch psyche, the language used must likewise skim the surface of a deep well of thoughts and emotions about the butch experience.
--
1 I do not feel comfortable using any pronoun for Jess, even a gender-neutral one; Jess never expresses a preference for he, she, they, zie, pers, or any other possible word, and I do not feel it's my right to attach one to Jess. I will try to make this as unobtrusive as possible.
--
Aaaaand yeah, it's supposed to be that short. She likes 'em one page, single-spaced. It's both refreshing and terrifying.
no subject
no subject
And I'm glad I was clear and stuff. ♥
no subject
Also I found a new comic for you.
no subject
Ahahahahahaha, I was thinking of reading it, since Lucy mentioned it. It looks lol.
no subject
it's good. I sort of want [someone else] to write a paper comparing it to DYWOF or something.
no subject
Oooooh. Mention DtWOF and the possibility of similarities and I am there. Guess what I convinced my leslit small group to pick as a name. I will give you a hint, we are The Bechdel Test.
no subject
haaahaha ilu. (Why did they need a name?)
no subject
I think to make it more wacky and fun? The first group that presented was something about drag queens, I think. But nobody in our group is any good at communicating non-awkwardly, so I just ended up suggesting it and being done with the whole thing. >> But now I have plans to run off copies of the salient DtWOF for the class for maximum appreciation, lawl.
no subject
...you mean they've never seen DTWOF?
no subject
Did I tell you that there was a girl in there who'd never heard of Prop 8? They're willing to learn, and so I am willing to provide.
no subject
...really. wow. FUFILL YOUR MATRONLY ROLE, AR.
no subject
She's been really good about her not-knowing things--like, she's totally into getting informed on stuff, and it's a good reminder that Not Everybody Knows About [Thing]--so I figure it's okay. I WILL LEAD THEM LIKE A MOTHER DUCK INTO THE WORLD OF LESBIAN COMICS.
no subject
and then you will tellll me of it :o
no subject
I will--though it won't be 'til May, of course, and in the meantime, I will read the latest leslit book, which is pretty good so far.
no subject
what's it called? And yay, my lesbian husband is over. It sounded so bad, man. So bad.
no subject
Well, the death knell for MLH doesn't sound until after tomorrow--of all the authors who could come in for our class, it would have to be that one. DX But this one is Zami by Audre Lorde, and bearing in mind that I've read, like, twelve pages, it's a lot better read thus far.
no subject
a breath of fresh leslit air XD And we will throw a party to commemorate the end of MLH.
no subject
It's tropical-scented--her parents came to the US from Grenada. :D And augh, such a party it will be. I will type up an excerpt of the book and then internets-burn it. ^_-
no subject
aww, that's awesome. AR has a new friendddd. and that is a brilliant idea XD
no subject
Bookfriends are sometimes the best kind. :D And I know, right? I am so done with that.
Also, icon. o.o
no subject
I often strive to be a bookfriend.
hahaha I wish I could find the context for that. Alas, S_D is dead, and it may be fake. But it at least looks authentic. This icon is real, though I can't show you the original since s_d is, as I said, dead.
no subject
Striving for excellence, in other words.
I miss s_d, sigh. I don't care if there's a new on IJ, I want the real one back.
no subject
yesu.
I wouldn't've minded if they'd made it so s_d couldn't post any more, but damn, did they have to delete the whole com? Now how am I going to show people comics they should read.
no subject
As per usual~
I know, right? I couldn't keep that comm on my flist, because I tried once and drowned under the sea of posts, but I loved looking through it on lazy afternoons. And, you know, when you linked me.
no subject
exactly! Now I'll have to get my own scanner + actually buy comics D:
no subject
This is expensive and time-consuming in comparison to a collective effort. D: