Still Dancing: New and Selected Stories
In Still Dancing acclaimed author Jameson Currier brings together twenty short stories spanning three decades of the impact of the AIDS epidemic on the gay community. Along with stories from Currier’s debut collection, Dancing on the Moon, praised by The Village Voice as “defiant and elegiac,” are ten newly selected stories written by “one of our preeminent masters of the short narrative form.”… More >>
Still Dancing: New and Selected Stories
Topic: aids epidemic, dancing on the moon, debut collection, In Still Dancing, jameson currier, narrative form, Selected Stories, The Village Voice
Currier, Jameson. “Still Dancing: New and Selected Stories”, Lethe Press, 2008.
The Impact of AIDS
Amos Lassen
It seems that many in our community have little idea how AIDS affected us and I find that distressing. The youngsters seem not to care and those that have survived in some cases have chosen not to look back. As a survivor I feel very lucky but I cannot forget all the friends that I have lost and how much the world, as a whole, has lost. I say to you that we have achieved so much as we stand on the shoulders of those that came before us and are no longer here to reap the rewards. This is something that we cannot forget–it was our Holocaust and it brought us together and gave us the chance to build a community.
Jameson Currier also has not forgotten. In his collection of stories, “Still Dancing”, he looks at the impact that AIDS had on gay New Yorkers and he looks at them from different perspectives—those that are no longer here, those who have left the country, those who have been displaced, those who have survived and those that just do not care. The collection was written over a thirty year period and some of them have appeared in an earlier collection, “Dancing on the Moon”. Other stories have appeared elsewhere but now we have them collected together. There is something for everyone in this volume and it is hard to close the covers and remain untouched. I have always loved Currier’s style and I remember what an effect his novel “Where the Rainbow Ends” had on me. I was living out of the country when it as published and had not yet realized how devastating AIDS was to the American gay community. I returned for a visit shortly after reading it and realized very quickly that my rainbow was nearing its end as I discovered so many friends and contemporaries were no longer alive.
If this sounds somewhat morose and depressing, let me assure you that Currier’s writing is anything but. He simply reminds us of an important period in gay history–if not the most important–when we came together in sorrow for mutual need and then we regrouped and made great strides. The proof of that is where we are today. Personally I want to thank Jameson Currier for reminding us of who we are.
Rating: 5 / 5
In 1993, Jameson Currier released “Dancing on the Moon,” an anthology of short stories dealing with the impact of the (then, decade old) AIDS crisis on the gay community. Asked to reissue and add to that compilation now, the author’s “Still Dancing: New and Selected Stories” make it clear that HIV has made an indelible mark on the lives of so many people, especially gay men. The stories are not about treatments that failed or the newer drug strategies that often seem to work, but of the lives of those who were affected by those who were infected, never to be the same again. There are stories of survival and hope, and of loss and remembrances, of people reacting with emotions ranging from somber depression to conscious denial, and the chance to value each day of life as a gift not to be taken lightly. In effect, this is not really a book about the evolution of the AIDS epidemic, but one dealing with how our community survived and adapted, growing stronger despite (or because of) the devastation the disease brought to us.
There are 20 diverse, emotional stories, 11 of which appeared in the original “Dancing on the Moon” anthology. In the author’s skilled hands, each includes relatable, fully-developed and realistic characters that will involve readers on an emotional level within a few short pages. Like another Amazon reviewer, I find it impossible to pick out a favorite, as each unique tale is noteworthy on its own merits. Much recommended, as much for younger readers as for those who experienced the first years of the epidemic. Five stars out of five.
Rating: 5 / 5
One of life’s pleasures, as any book lover can testify, is falling in love with a new author. Or, rather, the work of an author new to you. I recently discovered Jameson Currier and am head over heels in love with his writing. I have so far read only one book of his, Still Dancing, but have two others, Where the Rainbow Ends and Haunted Heart, waiting their turn. (I have so many good books waiting their turn I wish I were twins.)
There are twenty stories here, written over a time span of about 30 years. Not just any 30 years, but the three decades beginning with the mysterious and agonizing deaths of gay men in the mid-80′s to the present. Yes, these are AIDS stories. And yes, AIDS stories aren’t particularly popular now with either readers or writers. I suppose that’s because the average person thinks of AIDS as something in the past or something that is better ignored. Or perhaps in tough times maybe people just want escapism. I don’t know. But what I do know is that no one with a heart could read this collection and come away unmoved.
Jameson Currier is a master at the difficult art form of short fiction. Within the space of a few hundred or a few thousand words he can take out your heart and break it. I do not suggest that these are maudlin, pity-poor-us stories. Not at all. If they tell of death and dying, they tell equally of family, friends, lovers past and present, dead and living. The stories are gritty and honest, as real as IV tubes and funerals. Some also have a subtle meaning that doesn’t hit the reader until later. Currier’s stories don’t whitewash the physical ugliness of AIDS, or the pain, the fear, or the grief. Nor does he elevate the friends and caregivers to the status of saints who are never angry or impatient or resentful. The stories are elegant in their simplicity, and sublimely humane.
As I read the stories my favorites kept changing. “Still Dancing” was my favorite. No, “Ghosts” was my favorite. “Everybody is Always Somebody Else” was my favorite. Impossible choices. But I know I have to pick just a couple to draw attention to, so I chose “What They Carried” and “Winter Coats.”
“What They Carried” is deceptive. In less skilled hands it could have been a dreary laundry list of things taken to comfort a dying man: flowers, pajamas, books, etc. But because even the most mundane object carried to the fragile, beloved, and sometimes cantankerous Adam, are symbols not only of caring but also of helplessness, the story is unforgettable. The people in the story are not only carrying tokens of love to someone they are about to lose, but some of them wonder if they carry within their own bodies the deadly virus that will soon make of them objects of caring rather than givers. And some of them know.
“Winter Coats” is nothing short of charming, and that’s because Dennis, friend of the narrator, is charming. Dennis is handsome, talented, a dancer and actor, graceful, humorous, kind, and the embodiment of Je ne sais quoi. Shortly after burying his lover, for whom he was the devoted caregiver, Dennis, too, is losing his life to the virus. The narrator is Dennis’ friend of many years, and he is as much bemused by Dennis as anything else. At the end of the story, as if flipping the bird to frailty and his own mortality, Dennis can still spin a graceful, perfect double pirouette on a cold New York City street.
Jameson Currier is, simply, a remarkable writer who deserves to be read.
Reviewed by Ruth Sims[...]
Rating: 5 / 5