Martha Miller’s new book, Tales from the Levee, has its origins
in interviews Miller conducted with the lesbians and drag queens who
frequented a district of Springfield now vanished into history. The Levee
— Fifth Street between Jefferson and Washington streets — still holds a
notorious reputation among longtime Springfield residents, but what many
people don’t realize is that the Levee supported a gay community. In
addition to numerous straight bars and massage parlors, the neighborhood
was home to four gay bars in its two-block area. Drag queens who came from
as far away as St. Louis (cross-dressing was illegal in Missouri)
heightened the district’s drama factor and helped the Levee maintain
its legendary, less-than-savory status. Tales from the Levee,
though based on this seldom-discussed aspect of the city’s past, is
not presented as local history. Like Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, Levee is a collection of
fictional pieces that fit together to form a novel. Each chapter represents
a year in the life of the Levee, a chronicle of the end of an era. The 12 stories in Miller’s collection span the
years 1965 through 1976. The tale begins with the demolition of the old
Orpheum Theater, the first step of urban renewal that would, bit by bit,
see the Levee fade into oblivion. Miller creates a memorable cast of
characters, a tight-knit community of friends and rivals. Her female
characters, having accepted who they are, struggle with their individual
problems, trying to cope with how they are seen by the rest of the world. Comic relief is often supplied by the men, who are,
more often than not, drag queens. Amid the laughter, however, the reader
senses the thin veneer of bravado over vulnerability. Homophobia in the
heartland is nothing new, and Miller relates a disturbing and suspenseful
story of a killing that today would be called a hate crime. Miller states in her foreword that she wanted to
create a “gay mythology rather than a gay history,” and she has
succeeded. Miller is a storyteller, not an historian. In her previous
novels, she proved that she can create believable, sympathetic characters.
The same is true of Tales from the Levee. Anyone who has ever been on the outside looking in will
feel at home here. One need not be gay to identify the central theme of the
book, set forth by one of the characters: “Being different takes a
special kind of courage.”
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2005.
