Wednesday, February 27, 2013


Kinship Across Boundaries


by

Judith Kirscht

 

I first felt a kinship with Marta Merajver because of her claim to be a citizen of the world, and her description of her literature and exploring issues people preferred not to deal with. To be a citizen of the world is to identify across cultural, geographic, and linguistic boundaries. I cannot claim Marta’s international identification, but my fiction focuses on a peculiarly US version of the same phenomena. The Inheritors (www.judithkirscht.com) centers on an ethnically-mixed woman’s search for identity in a Chicago neighborhood shaped over generations by waves of immigrants. Her search through stories of women whose love carried them across national, cultural, and class boundaries brings her into increasing conflict with her first great love, a Mexican American who wants her to forget her gringo roots. This battle between sticking with one’s own—with its concurrent mistrust of outsiders—and moving beyond unspoken boundaries shapes the book and, in my mind, the city and the nation.

 

I set the book in 1980 so that its heroine, Alicia Barron, would be both a product of the Sixties, with its ideal of breaking boundaries and an outsider to the university built in the middle of her ethnic community. By the Eighties, however, the Sixties radicals had settled into a balkanized community of their own, inclined to portray all outsiders as “establishment.” This tendency, born, I think, of the need for security, of dynamic movements to stabilize and then close themselves off has always fascinated me. I also see intermarriage as the chief dynamic force carrying people beyond those boundaries. Alicia, because she is ethnically mixed is quintessentially a product of the USA as are the ethnic and class hostilities she encounters.

 

I find that themes akin to Marta’s run through several of my novels, published and unpublished. In my first attempt many years ago, the hero searches for his first love, a Native American-Caucasian girl who ran off and married his brother. In my first published novel, Nowhere Else to Go (www.judithkirscht.com/books), the children of an integrated neighborhood in a university town find their relationships torn apart by the racial upheavals of the Sixties. In still another, yet unpublished novel, the heroine’s family disintegrates following the evidence of pedophilia—one of those issues which, as Marta says, people would rather not deal with. My most recent novel, still in draft form, deals with a pair of middle-aged women the town believes are lesbian.

 

The problem, of course, is how to draw people into reading our books, if they rather not deal with such issues. If people read only for escape, then they won’t pick up our novels, but I believe there are those, and they are many, who want to read books that explore the anguishes of their time rather than run from them. So let us keep the faith and keep writing books like Marta’s Just Toss the Ashes, the story of a son’s search for understanding of his mother’s suicide

29 comments:

  1. Fascinating contribution Judith, thank you for sharing! I have so enjoyed Marta's book and now look forward to investigating yours!

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    1. I hope you find mine as compelling as Marta's. I'll feel very proud if you do.

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  2. Well said!! Rest assured there are those of us who prefer stories that portray real life. I read several novels last year; Marta's Just Toss the Ashes is one that will remain with me, one that I will read again. Stay true and don't get discouraged. You're in good company.

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    1. We do know readers like yourself are out there, and it keeps us writing. Thank you for being reader

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  3. Judith, you are a true soul-sister. I get so tired of reading books that are about nothing, or worse, silly nonsense. One of my novels,Irretrievably Broken,a 3-generational family story, also deals with diversity and racism. I am lucky in that my, and my husbands families, incorporate many nations and countries other than the U.S. and, like Marta, I count myself a citizen of the world. I'm a bit backlogged on books right now, but plan to read yours and Marta's Ashes soon. The price for your Kindle version is a bit steep, but you may not have any control over it. Since I'm an Indie publisher I keep my prices low & do free Kindle promotions on Amazon from time to time. Good luck with your new novel! Good to talk on a forum with people who still value literary fiction.

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    1. I'm afraid I don't have control over the Kindle price and have to be sympathetic to a struggling publisher trying to give voice to writers like me. I may find a way to do giveaways, but haven't had time to investigate it. In any case, I welcome you as a potential reader in any case

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  4. You've hit the nail on the head. How do we attract readers to books with social justice and social consciousness themes? I try to have engaging characters with a message of love and hope, but the minute I mention "Based on my work as a social psychologist." eyes glaze over and I've lost a potential reader. Perhaps we need our own genre. We certainly need a hook. We really need to make social issues books the latest fad. - Delinda McCann author Lies That Bind, M'TK Sewer Rat

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    1. I'm afraid there are two hot buttons that turn people off. One, anything that suggests you're an academic. As one who has lived most of my life on the edge of academia, I know that really makes people pull back. Secondly, fear that you are preaching. I'm put off by fiction that promotes an ideology myself--I'll mention Kingsolver as one. So, it's hard to hit the right key as a storyteller amidst those pitfalls, but forming our own genre would mean talking to ourselves, which sort of defeats the purpose.

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  5. Here we are on the anniversary ( Feb.27th) of Rosa Parks' fight against racial injustice of her day. Now you are dealing with similar issues that light a fire for good or for bad under the lives of those who either embrace your words or, in hiding their faces, they turn away. Words like shame, cowardliness or indifference come to mind along with fearless, undaunted, and honest portrayal come to mind. You are one brave soul. Write on!!!
    Where eagles fly,
    Don (Greywolf) Ford
    Native American Storyteller
    My newest book, "Connect the Dots" can be seen at
    https://www.createspace.com/4178281

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    1. And the same to you. Years ago, I was fascinated with Native-American myth and legend. I've been trying to find time to go back to it. I'll look you up.

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  6. Judith, really enjoyed this. I’m checking out your website and your books. I was taken in immediately upon hearing Marta's first interview when she talked of writing about suicide and the elderly. I admire her writing, and am looking forward to reading yours too.

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    1. Thanks, so much. I hope you enjoy my books as much as Marta's. It's warming to know there are readers out there.

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  7. What a brave author to tackle so many ticklish social taboos. My first novel centered around a victim of child-rape who developed PTSD, but in circa 1920's-40's. Glad to see this author is willing to write about the subject, offering a new hero to heart-breaking victims. I hope you finish that story--I would like to read it.

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    1. The story is finished and awaiting the publishers response. If it makes the cut, always a tricky proposition, you'll hear about it. Thank you for the good wishes in any case.

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  8. I'm posting on Pat Yaeger's behalf, who hasn't been able to defeat the devils behind this engine:))

    Judith and Marta, As usual, I learn so much about you through your writings. Marta, you truly are a fascinating person with so many edges and curves.

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    1. I sympathize with those devils. It's taken me several tries to manage responding! I'm glad, Pat, that you enjoy complexities of character more than the same in technology.

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  9. Books like yours are meant for the opposite of escape: they're a call to deeper involvement in the world. I wonder if the only readers attracted to such "rather not" material are already pretty conscious? Congratulations on taking on the tough issues.

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    1. I'm sure such readers include the conscious, but I think ideally they also include those who find release in knowing they are not alone with such issues. Reading makes us less lonely.

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  10. Ahh Marta...
    Once again you are there pushing the envelope and fortunately I am there to catch the contents...

    Judith...I feel so blessed to have found another sister of the soul. I too have pushed the boundaries of so-called socially unacceptable subjects, however, I have found that most who read "on the edge" are grateful for the courage in the writing as well as the provocative nature of the issue.

    Please finish the work you have started...you've been given a gift. It's your obligation to share.

    Taylor Fulks
    My Prison Without Bars

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    1. Thank you for those kind words. Writing and finishing the stories is the satisfying part. Finding readers is more difficult, though just as rewarding when it happens. So, read on!

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  11. Judy, I found your post to be enlightening, but I'd expect nothing less from a friend of Marta's. :) Your book sounds like a good read and hopefully I'll get to reading it soon. I like literary writing which your books sounds like as opposed to the overflow of genre writing which are all the same with the names and places changed. Good luck with your book and hopefully I will be able to read and review it.Micki

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    1. Well, I hope I come up to your expectations. Marta is a compelling writer. And, of course, I hope you get to read The Inheritors soon. While I write on topics generally considered literary, I try to also be accessible to anyone who likes a good read. Hope I succeed with you, andthanks for the comment.

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  12. Dear Judith, I admire your story-telling abilities and the courage to share the truths that so many of us have lived for generations as Americans in the blending of the fabric of this country. You and Marta are inherently gifted with literary talents that bring to the fore these topics that touch our lives so deeply, and I am grateful for your books and your willingness to open our hearts and minds to the realities that surround us in a meaningful way.

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    1. You reinforce my faith that boundary crossing and blending of cultures is the experience of being American. Thank you for that. And I think it does add meaning to our lives and culture.

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  13. Loved the book, Judy. I continue to be impressed by your literary style and your attention to detail. So happy that you're published!!!

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  14. I am posting on behalf of Sarah Mallery, who has been unable to enter her comment.

    "Having been an ESL teacher for over ten years, I have been privy to the world of immigrants and those less fortunate. I have learned how gracious they all are, how, no matter how tired they come in from a back-breaking day at a job nobody else wants, they arrive, eager to learn. So, when I was introduced to Judith Kirscht’s The Inheritors, I perked up. Taking place during the 1960’s in Chicago, it is a story about a woman who has always felt the sting of prejudice against her and her Latina background. A woman who inherits an old building built by an American, non-Latin industrialist who turns out to be her grandfather. Fascinated, she delves into her other ancestors and discovers a variety of women, some of whom had risked everything to come to this country, others that had become the backbone of it, and all of whom in the end, made her aware of who she truly is and thus, creating another conflict in her love-life.

    Ms. Kirscht, with her vivid language and soft sensitivity towards other backgrounds in our society, manages to pull the reader into a world they might otherwise by-pass. For this reason, I feel it is an important work, for it exposes people to the simple fact that this country is indeed made up of a cornucopia of cultures."

    Best,
    Sarah

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    1. You overwhelm me, Sarah, with your eloquent review. You reward my hopes that readers would identify the characters in the novel with their own experience. I would really appreciate it if your would also post this as a review on Amazon, for it will surely attract readers. I thank you.

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  15. Hi,

    Thank you for introducing yourself here on Marta's blog. I consider myself to be an international citizen of the world also and since crossing that boundary my kinship or those related to me is based on a different criterium than most people who remain only in one place and one country.

    Your book The Inheritors sounds very interesting and I hope that avenues continue to open for it.

    Ciao,
    Patti

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  16. Thank you, Patti, in Judith's name and my own.
    I'd like to express my gratitude to everyone who has enriched this post through their interesting and profound comments, and to Judith Kirscht, who generously contributed a wonderful sample of her writing.
    The Blogroll will not publish new material until Monday, March 18.

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