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Daughter of the Legend

Jesse Stuart

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Aug 15, 2020 Werner rated it it was amazing

Shelves: general-fiction

I was actually introduced to some of Jesse Stuart's short fiction in grade school, and read and liked his collection Clearing in the Sky & Other Stories back in the early 90s (though I have yet to review it). Being interested in the Appalachian region, I've always wanted to explore his long fiction, so this was my first foray into that part of his corpus.

In a sense, this is a timely read, since it deals with cross-cultural, interracial love and marriage. But it's a reminder that American racial I was actually introduced to some of Jesse Stuart's short fiction in grade school, and read and liked his collection Clearing in the Sky & Other Stories back in the early 90s (though I have yet to review it). Being interested in the Appalachian region, I've always wanted to explore his long fiction, so this was my first foray into that part of his corpus.

In a sense, this is a timely read, since it deals with cross-cultural, interracial love and marriage. But it's a reminder that American racial relations deal with more than two groups, because the minority focused on here are the Melungeons, a tiny ethnic group about whom most Americans have probably never even heard. (They're mentioned in Mildred Haun's story "Melungeon-Colored," from her collection The Hawk's Done Gone, which was my first introduction to them, and gives a good idea of the murderous hatred with which they've been regarded historically by some of their neighbors, and I'd read a bit about them since in various venues; but this novel was a real immersion into their culture.) Usually darker-complexioned than most Anglo-Saxons, their origins are shrouded in mystery and legend (they're sometimes called "Sons and Daughters of the Legend," hence the title here). The Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melungeon ) dogmatically asserts that they're the product of black-white-mulatto unions in the colonial South; but most sources view them as a combination of white, black and American Indian ancestry, and from what I've read elsewhere, the first Anglo-Saxon settlers pushing into what's now Tennessee found the Melungeons already there, and distinct from the Indians by reason of their language, use of metals, and practice of a form of Christianity. (Some writers have theorized that the white component in their ancestry may go back all the way to Semites fleeing from ancient Carthage after its fall, by way of the Iberian peninsula; Stuart touches on all of these theories briefly in dialogue in the book, but avoids very lengthy info-dumps.)

Our setting is northeast Tennessee, where most Melungeons live ("Cantwell County" is fictional, but it accurately reflects real-life analogs); no date is given for the events, but based on a character's passing comment that I interpret as a reference to FDR's quest for a third term, I'd say it's 1940-41. (Prohibition is in the past, but still remembered; horses and mules are still commonly used for transportation, and barter is common, as it was in cash-strapped Appalachia through the Depression years.) Regionalist Realism is obviously the literary tradition into which Stuart most naturally fits as a writer, and this novel exemplifies, and contributes to, that tradition; but (at least here) he also evokes emotions as powerful and complex as any Romantic author ever conjured. (I'll avoid spoilers, but I will say that this is a read which definitely packs a wallop.) And while this is not a "romance" novel in the conventional sense, it is a depiction of a great and sincere love. It could be said to be insta-love (although we learn, a fair way into the book, that Dave and Deutsia have known each other about two months --their first meeting isn't depicted, and they're already smitten with each other when we meet them), and Dave's early praises of her are mostly in terms of her looks; but rapid and genuine attractions between people do happen in real life, and it's soon clear that these two value each other for personal character qualities that go beyond looks.

Dave serves as first-person narrator throughout (his narrative voice is simple and straightforward, with the diction of an Appalachian native who's intelligent but not highly educated), so readers who dislike first-person should be warned. While there's a small amount of profanity and swearing, within the bounds of realism for these characters, there's no explicit sex, and it's dubious whether there's any implied sex, beyond the obvious inference that it can be expected after marriage. (Caught in a torrential downpour while courting, our H/h have to spend a night on a bed of leaves in an improvised shelter under a rock overhang, but Stuart doesn't gratify anybody's curiosity about whether anything happened but sleep --and the characters would probably point out, correctly, that the subject isn't really any of the readers' business.) Religion is treated respectfully, even in the form of snake-handling Pentecostalism, as is Melungeon culture ("warts and all"). Not all the attitudes and practices here accord with modern sensibilities, and the treatment of the Melungeon community by the majority culture might make most readers angry enough to want to hit something --or somebody. (By now, laws at least have undoubtedly changed; but then, they were treated as one of the "dark races" under the laws against "miscegenation," "educated" only up to the eighth grade in sub-standard segregated schools, victimized by selective law enforcement, exploited economically, denied admission to some businesses or to standard medical care, and generally viewed with prejudice, contempt or outright hatred.) Though Stuart doesn't deal with it as an issue, readers who know anything about Appalachian ecology will be appalled by the glimpse of the clear-cutting of Appalachia's old-growth forests that was going on then (Dave's employed as a tree cutter). But if the above doesn't scare you away, this was a completely absorbing read that still has me thinking (and reeling emotionally); and it would probably be a great read for book clubs, because there is a lot of fodder here for discussion questions.

Note: There's a 1994 reprint edition of this novel, published by the Jesse Stuart Foundation, and edited by a John H. Spurlock (I'm not sure why it required editing by anybody!), which has good cover art; but what I read was the original 1965 edition, with a plain yellow hard cover. ...more

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