The prose brings out the best of the story, and the result is a balanced read that is hard to get elsewhere.
By Jane Migliara Brigham
Most trans fiction falls into one of two camps. The first camp is that of the pessimists, where the difficulties of being trans are explored to their full potential, resulting in a heavy experience. The other camp is that of wish fulfillment, where any difficulties associated with being trans are either overcome or smoothed over into irrelevance to make for a more pleasant experience. Very few works have tried to carve out a space in between these two extremes, and those that do tend to be stand out works.
‘The Dinner Party’ manages to stay in that middle space, and does it exceptionally well.
The Dinner Party is a poetry collection by Cat Fitzpatrick, Editor of Little Puss Press, Professor of English, and Author of ‘The Callout’, which won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Fiction.
The standout work in this collection is the titular poem, about a bunch of transsexuals at a dinner party arguing about the nature of love. The writing is in iambic pentameter (think Shakespeare but modern), and uses the poetry to turn an otherwise simple story into a true work of art. Even without looking back at it, I can remember much of the prose because the rhymes work to keep the words locked in your head long after you are done. It’s delightful. I can’t remember the last time where the prose of a story alone was enough to make me smile and giggle.
This prose serves to highlight the romantic subject which the story focuses on. The characters are all committed to their idea of what love is, and eager to see their ideas sway others. The narrator spends the story making sure that the guests don’t blow up at one another as a result. As an older trans woman, she tries to mend fences between her younger guests, but feels lost in doing so.
“They’re all of them, at least at heart, still young.
They think that love’s another thing you do
An episode of life you move on through
Dramatic, structured, and that, once you’ve wrung
“The pain or knowledge from it, downed the wine,
Been kissed, got fucked, met triumph or defeat,
It’s done, you’ve had it, love is now complete.
I guess they think they’ll never die. Well fine.
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It's this disconnection that ties the story together. The guests at her party are young (and at least in her mind, irrational), just as the love they talk about is irrational. They are trying to make sense of an emotion that makes no sense, but is beautiful nonetheless.
The rest of the book is filled with other poems on love. The standout from these is ‘Uxorious Sonnets’, a series of love poems written to her wife.
While all these poems are good, the titular story is clearly the standout work. The prose brings out the best of the story, and the result is a balanced read that is hard to get elsewhere.
Disclaimer: I was given an advanced review copy of the book by the publisher. I also know the author.
If you want to buy the book, you can do so HERE. You can also look through the collection of the publisher, Seven Stories Press, for other similar works.