Rural reality,
Southern style
by Jay Brown
Restless Rednecks; Gay Tales o f a Chang­
ing South., by Roy F. W oo d Grey Fox Press,
San Francisco. $7.95.
Growing up gay in a rural area is com m on
to many people. Som e o f us endured the
isolation and the privation from kindred
spirits only as long as we were forced to. I
hated it and have vowed never to subject
m yself to m ore than a minimal amount of
tim e to the bucolic. So it was with some
trepidation that I Began reading Restless
Rednecks.
Here was a gay man, in his preface no less,
actually professing to like rural Georgia. And
then there was, o f course, the “ rednecks” in
the title. But I read W ood’s book o f short
stories in one sitting, (well, I did skip one story
I had already read in Manifest) and 1 was
captivated by the range and depth o f W ood’s
work.
As is the wont o f gay men everywhere,
W ood’s protagonists are involved in a sex-
hunt in one form or other, but not all the
sexhunts com e to satisfactory conclusions.
And that’s the beauty o f these stories. W ood
has m anaged to make his sexhunters real
people; people to whom the sexhunt is just
another part o f their lives. They are introspec­
tive people firmly based in reality.
In the opening story, Next Tim e... reality s
m eeting the hunk o f a lifetime in a small town
tavern, have him follow you home, and then
not being able to make a move.
“ Next time he would overcom e the uneasi­
ness, the apprehensions that others forced
on his consciousness. Next tim e he would
seize the initiative and seek happiness no
matter what cam e o f it Oh yes, next time the
ending would be different he promised him­
self as he entered the empty house. Next
tim e . . . ”
In a number o f stories reality is stultifying
fundamentalist religion. A young evangelist
beats a hasty retreat when the man he hopes
to convert turns the table on him in The
Visitation. Henry Taylor’s act o f desecration
brings unexpected results in The Shrine.
“ Henry wanted to com m it an act which
would show his utter contem pt for the
narrow-minded community and its unrea­
sonable religion which cloaked the village in
a shroud o f respectability. Like the dead, of
w hom only good was ever spoken, religion,
with its syruplike sweetness was held to be
above reason. It gradually turned into a
molasses-style flypaper, catching and hold­
ing every unfortunate soul who touched it”
S om e o f the stories com e to very satisfac­
tory ends, for they are as W ood says, “Stories
designed to be read with one hand.” In A
Picture o f Rex, an ex-prisoner, meets the only
man to have answered his letters. A loser
becom es a winner in Nursing Papa. The
orgy in Masters o f the Ceremony is probably
the devout fantasy o f many a rural loner. For
that’s reality, too. Our fantasies do com e true
som etim es.
W ood’s one-handed stories are not over­
blown descriptions o f various acts o f penetra­
tion, etc., although the situations do get pretty
intense at times. W oods has created well-
developed and complicated characters and
he takes the reader into his characters’
minds. We know these people and we also
know that W ood cares for them.
In his preface W ood says, “(The stories)
Should, all in all, make you feel good about
being a gay man!” I say he achieved his goal.
The lavender couch
provide a balanced view o f the diverse ap­
proaches, methods and issues involved in
the psychotherapy process; 2 ) the world o f
diverse lesbians and gay men who are seek­
ing to affirm their identities and growth pro­
cesses by entering therapy.
Through the use o f vignettes, Hall stands
with lesbians and gay men at each choice
point in the search for a therapist, and walks
through a variety o f problems and solutions
with them. Together we explore "Why would I
g o to a psychotherapist?” “What kind o f a
therapist am I looking for” “ How do I negotiate
my needs with my therapist?” and "What
happens if I becom e angry at or attracted to
my therapist?” Rather than giving prescrip­
tions for action, the author thinks through the
issues that are important in each o f these
matters. The result is a guide which em pow­
ers lesbians and gay men to test the thera­
peutic relationship and to risk being them­
selves within it An important strength of this
book is Hall’s belief that we can find psycho­
therapists who will help us affirm our unique
identities as lesbians and gay men and also
provide us with excellent psychotherapeutic
assistance with our life problems.
Moll Cutpurse, Her
True History
M oll Cutpurse, Her True History, by Ellen
Galford. Firebrand Books, 1985. $7.95.
219Pp.
Reviewed by Lee Lynch
The Lavender Couch: A consum er s guide
to psychotherapy for lesbians and gay
m en, by Mary Hall. Alyson Publications, Inc.
1985. $7.95.
Review ed by Carol S. Becker, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist, Berkeley, CA
Associate Professor o f Human
Developm ent, California State University,
Hayward
Mamy Hall’s new book is a model of clear
and thorough information, given in a com ­
passionate manner, to lesbians and gay men
looking for a psychotherapist Her presenta­
tion com bines the best o f two worlds: 1) the
world o f the experienced therapist who can
Firebrand Books has done American les­
bian literature a service by issuing M oll
Cutpurse on this side o f the Atlantic. It’s a
novel full o f tradition, both literary and les­
bian. But lest that sound too somber, let me
quickly agree with the back cover blurb which
describes the book as a “delightful lesbian
romp." That it is.
Moll was a real person. The novel is nar­
rated by her fictional lover, Bridget, to correct
misinformation penned by a male who also
wrote M oll’s life. In the tradition o f the histori­
cal novel, real as well as fictional characters
m ingle in the book. The playwrights Middle-
ton and Dekker, for example, whose com edy
"Th e Roaring Girl" (1611) was based on Moll
Cutpurse, appear by name in a tale about the
opening o f that play.
Moll Cutpurse is a rogue, the picaroon of
picaresque tradition. Though she fits that de­
scription: "a conspicuous dissenter from es­
tablished moral and social codes,” she does
not exclusively indulge in the satire usually
associated with the picaresque novel. She’s
an honest (in her own way), outrageous (in
the way o f many dykes today), and lovable
lesbian, m ore intent on surviving the society
that seeks to limit her to fem ale roles than on
intellectual game-playing.
In following the novel’s episodic structure,
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we witness Moll com ing out, mating and liv­
ing merrily through adventure after Robin
H ood adventure. As in today’s lesbian literary
tradition, she, Bridget, and a host o f fem ale
cronies, war against the stereotypically (satiri­
cally?) drawn men. Bridget is an apothecary
dealing in herbs and her aunt is a gatherer
and grower. In a typical episode, the neigh­
boring farmer attempts to oust the elderly
aunt with accusations o f witchcraft in order to
take over her land. One's sense o f the tim es is
enhanced when Moll, unable to cham pion
the woman, at least aids her escape in a ploy
that not only uses the farm er’s own horse and
cart against him, but turns his fears around to
her own god use in part payment for passage
on a ship whose captain begs the “witch” to
provide a good sailing wind.
At som e point I found m yself missing the
em otional impact I’ve com e to expect o f the
lesbian novel (even if it's only despair) and I
began to fault Galford. Then I realized that
very lack is an elem ent o f this traditional writ­
ing. The picaroon is a "fiat character,” not "all
round,” who does not develop through her
romps, but is an instrument instead, o f de­
scription and commentary, a travel guide
through her society.
Moll, though, is much m ore than that
She's a strong m odel who I found validating. I
may not have been a cutpurse growing up, or
boisterous, or streetwise, but I sure as hell
wore boys’ clothes every chance I got and
sw aggered like Moll. To watch that sw agger
take its course three hundred years a go and
to feel the strength o f Moll, her gall, her stay­
ing power, is to recognize my own ancestor,
at least my own tradition.
Nor was Moll the first o f the line. There was
at lest one picaresque fem ale cross-dresser
before her, an ex-nun named Catalina de
Erauso who lived from 1592 until approxi­
mately 1624 and inspired an earlier work.
Literate, lively, true-to-life, Galford’s
M oll Cutpurse was fun to read, and an im ­
portant work, both extending and exploring a
lesbian literary tradition unacknowledged,
but as lively as that rogue Moll herself.
at
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