Worrying about books: why is no one talking about Trenton Makes?
This morning I was checking out a friend's twitter feed and saw a whole scrolling conversation about Ariel Schrag's book Adam. I haven't read it so I can't contribute to the conversation, but a lot of people are really upset by it and angry that she wrote such a book.
Reading people's angry posts about Adam (I think it is particularly distressing when there are so few books out there with trans protagonists that a book like this by a pretty well known queer author comes out) reminded me of my terror and horror at reading the beginning of Trenton Makes by Tadzio Koelb and then reading reviews of it, and an interview with Koelb in which he says he was inspired to write it after reading about Billy Tipton.
Billy Tipton was not a "male impersonator"!!!
Billy Tipton didn't kill his husband and then start "impersonating" him!
Billy Tipton was a man!!!
Billy Tipton was a trans man in a time when there wasn't the broader public acknowledgment of the complexity and diversity of gender identities that there is now!
I can't seem to find anyone writing critically about this recent novel---Trenton Makes--in which there is an afab character who "lives as a man" and is either trans or "impersonating a man" (???!!!) which in itself is really worrisome. But it gets much worse. (Not sure how much detail to go into here. Here is a review that addresses some of the issues https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
This is a book that was published by a major publishing company. (Doubleday).
Why can't I find more criticism about the content of this book? I don't know. Which is why I'm putting it out there. I want to hear people's thoughts on it. I want there to be more dialogue about it on social media. I want to hear what other queer and gnb and trans folx have to say about it.
I understand that the stories writers tell, or are drawn to, are often problematic. Because "drama" is something writers are often drawn to, and some kinds of drama that are better left untouched, or left to those who are closer to the lived experience to write about, can be attractive/easy to exploit, even if one means well. Because crises of identity and encounters in which there is conflict around identity are often what drives drama... I'm sure I am guilty of this and perhaps most writers are.
And, in a way, every story that includes certain narratives necessarily excludes others. It can be challenging to do justice in fiction to people whose narratives and voices are not adequately explored and valued and represented and given the attention they deserve. No matter who we are as writers, our books are limited in terms of whose stories they represent, and how they represent those stories. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't interrogate our choices as we write, and question our motivations and the effects our writing might have, particularly on underrepresented people and communities--books in which the way people are represented might be particularly influential.
I think it is possible to value a book, or value things a book does do well, and acknowledge its shortcomings, and still care about that book.
And sometimes a book's shortcomings can even "open up space" for other writers--a more diverse group of writers--and their stories.
But sometimes a book is egregious enough in its address of certain subject matter that the fact of its existence is profoundly unsettling. This is, I gather, how a lot of people feel about Adam and it is how I feel about Trenton Makes. But I was not willing to finish the book, so I don't feel that I have adequate knowledge of it to really write critically about it.
Meanwhile, I want to remind folks that there lots of wonderful books out there by and about trans and gnb people. Here are some articles and lists.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://bookriot.com/2017/03/13/8-mem...
https://www.bustle.com/articles/15631...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/erikaturner/...
http://gomag.com/article/10-books-res...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
Reading people's angry posts about Adam (I think it is particularly distressing when there are so few books out there with trans protagonists that a book like this by a pretty well known queer author comes out) reminded me of my terror and horror at reading the beginning of Trenton Makes by Tadzio Koelb and then reading reviews of it, and an interview with Koelb in which he says he was inspired to write it after reading about Billy Tipton.
Billy Tipton was not a "male impersonator"!!!
Billy Tipton didn't kill his husband and then start "impersonating" him!
Billy Tipton was a man!!!
Billy Tipton was a trans man in a time when there wasn't the broader public acknowledgment of the complexity and diversity of gender identities that there is now!
I can't seem to find anyone writing critically about this recent novel---Trenton Makes--in which there is an afab character who "lives as a man" and is either trans or "impersonating a man" (???!!!) which in itself is really worrisome. But it gets much worse. (Not sure how much detail to go into here. Here is a review that addresses some of the issues https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
This is a book that was published by a major publishing company. (Doubleday).
Why can't I find more criticism about the content of this book? I don't know. Which is why I'm putting it out there. I want to hear people's thoughts on it. I want there to be more dialogue about it on social media. I want to hear what other queer and gnb and trans folx have to say about it.
I understand that the stories writers tell, or are drawn to, are often problematic. Because "drama" is something writers are often drawn to, and some kinds of drama that are better left untouched, or left to those who are closer to the lived experience to write about, can be attractive/easy to exploit, even if one means well. Because crises of identity and encounters in which there is conflict around identity are often what drives drama... I'm sure I am guilty of this and perhaps most writers are.
And, in a way, every story that includes certain narratives necessarily excludes others. It can be challenging to do justice in fiction to people whose narratives and voices are not adequately explored and valued and represented and given the attention they deserve. No matter who we are as writers, our books are limited in terms of whose stories they represent, and how they represent those stories. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't interrogate our choices as we write, and question our motivations and the effects our writing might have, particularly on underrepresented people and communities--books in which the way people are represented might be particularly influential.
I think it is possible to value a book, or value things a book does do well, and acknowledge its shortcomings, and still care about that book.
And sometimes a book's shortcomings can even "open up space" for other writers--a more diverse group of writers--and their stories.
But sometimes a book is egregious enough in its address of certain subject matter that the fact of its existence is profoundly unsettling. This is, I gather, how a lot of people feel about Adam and it is how I feel about Trenton Makes. But I was not willing to finish the book, so I don't feel that I have adequate knowledge of it to really write critically about it.
Meanwhile, I want to remind folks that there lots of wonderful books out there by and about trans and gnb people. Here are some articles and lists.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://bookriot.com/2017/03/13/8-mem...
https://www.bustle.com/articles/15631...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/erikaturner/...
http://gomag.com/article/10-books-res...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
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Eric
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May 22, 2018 02:30PM
Wonderful article. Agree that not all stories need to be told. I wish Henry James hadn't written "The Bostonians". Though I still think "Washington Square" is a masterpiece, I lost a lot of respect for James due to his narrow minded, bigoted view towards the suffragettes in "The Bostonians." Anxious to check out the books to get a better understand what you're saying here.
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Thanks, Eric! :)I don't know if I've read The Bostonians. If I have, it's been long enough that I don't remember it at all. (Now I'm curious about it...)
Look forward to catching up one of these days!
Dov wrote: "Thanks, Eric! :)I don't know if I've read The Bostonians. If I have, it's been long enough that I don't remember it at all. (Now I'm curious about it...)
Look forward to catching up one of these..."
Looking forward to catching up, too. Hope you're feeling better.
I haven't read it either, so I've been hesitant to weigh in (especially since I was a huge fan of Schrag's high school/college autobio comics.) I know it's getting a surge of attention now because it's being made into a film, but it also seems strange to me that there wasn't more outcry around the time of its publication - or maybe there was and I was just out of the loop..?Regardless, thanks for this post! This -- "And sometimes a book's shortcomings can even "open up space" for other writers--a more diverse group of writers--and their stories." -- is an excellent and often overlooked point. :)
Thanks for the note, Molly!!! Funny, I'd taken Adam out of the library soon after it was published thinking it would be a graphic novel (as I tend to enjoy Schrag's comics) and started to read it and just wasn't interested. And also have only recently come across more critical commentary. It's frustrating, when there are so few films with trans characters, that there is a film being made about someone who poses as a trans character. But, I guess that's just how it goes. An interesting (?) choice on Schrag's part. Like you, though, I am hesitant to weigh in.
