'Hillbilly Elegy' is back in the spotlight. These Appalachians write a different tale
https://www.npr.org/2024/08/16/g-s1-17184/jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-barbara-kingsolver-appalachiaAUGUST 17, 2024 5:00 AM ET
By Clayton Kincade
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, the 2016 memoir from Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, once again began flying off the shelves after former President Donald Trump named Vance as his running mate. Many have turned to the memoir to find out the story of Vances upbringing, a core part of why hes on the Republican ticket to begin with. But the book also brings along a host of assumptions that many authors still find not to be true.
Pulitzer-winning author Barbara Kingsolver said she felt that it was her duty to tell a different story of Appalachian life than the one that Vance presented in the book.
It used the same old victim-blaming trope. It was like a hero story: I got out of here, I went to Yale, Kingsolver said of Vance. But those lazy people, you know, just don't have ambitions. They dont have brains. Thats why theyre stuck where they are. I disagree. And thats my job, to tell a different story.
Vances has been mired in controversy since its 2016 publication, especially by authors who cover the region. Vance, who writes that Appalachian culture encourages social decay instead of counteracting it, says this upbringing is central to his political ideology and thinking.
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bucolic_frolic
(45,816 posts)Lonestarblue
(11,337 posts)Full of the worst stereotypes about Appalachia and way too self-promoting. His use of his own relatives to try to create this impression of an impoverished Vance who rose from the dregs of society to obtain an Ivy League degree was disgusting.
Jilly_in_VA
(10,649 posts)I have no idea what he was thinking. I wonder if he even read it himself. I got about halfway through it and was tempted to throw it across the room. I struggled through to the end and then threw it in the trash. Sorry, dear brother, but I would not pass this book on to anyone. Nobody I love should have their mind polluted with this garbage.
JD is NOT a "hillbilly". He did NOT grow up in Appalachia. He grew up in southern Ohio, FFS. So did some of my ancestors, and they were most certainly NOT hillbillies, they were Palatine Germans whose families had settled in Virginia and then some of them had joined the westward movement. Some of JD's family may have been transplanted from Appalachia, but by the time it got to him, they were nothing but trailer trash, or what my mother, God rest her soul, would have called "poor white trash". I like what someone called JD---a "shillbilly". And BTW, I heard his original name was John David Bowman, or some such. He must have taken the name Vance from some stepdaddy.
I worked in home health among real Appalachian people in east Tennessee. They would look down their noses at people like JD. They may have been poor, but they were proud. They would give you the shirt off their back, if you asked. They would share what they had---I was often the recipient of goods from gardens, meals at their tables no matter how poor, gifts of homemade candy at Christmas or sausage at "hog killin' time", etc. I used to give a lot of the produce to other patients who weren't lucky enough to have gardens, but always had plenty left over to take home. I miss those folks.
Lonestarblue
(11,337 posts)Theres a huge difference between celebrating the customs of a proud people and exploiting those people for personal aggrandizement. Vance was not celebrating strengths, he was exploiting people.
Jilly_in_VA
(10,649 posts)which is my point.
FakeNoose
(34,753 posts)I never read the book, but I did try to watch the mini-series that was based on Vance's book. At the time I had no idea of his political leaning, but I really hated the stories he told about his family. I think I bailed after the 3rd or 4th episode.
If you get a chance, try reading books by Barbara Kingsolver. She is a wonderful novelist who is proud of her Appalachian upbringing. Not all of her stories are about Appalachia, at least one book takes place in Arizona, and another is about a family of American missionaries in Africa. But her stories have a lot of heart and the characters are real people.
tanyev
(43,997 posts)Checked it out because its a cookbook, but its also a memoir of her familys history as Black Appalachians. It was really interesting.
When baking thick and buttery biscuits, the acclaimed poet and fiction writer often summons Granny Christine to join her.
The kitchen was where the secrets were revealed, plans were made, advice was given all while preparing mouthwatering meals, Wilkinson said.
Raised by her grandparents in the hollers of Indian Creek, Kentucky, Wilkinson vividly remembers the dishes that were commonplace in her childhood.
From wild kale and dandelion greens stewed with alliums to sweet jam cake made with preserved blackberries picked during the previous summers harvest, the kitchen is where she felt the most connected to her family.
https://uknow.uky.edu/professional-news/crystal-wilkinson-explores-black-appalachia-cooking-praisesong-kitchen-ghosts
Scruffy1
(3,400 posts)I too grew up in a poorer rural community, but not near as bad as Mississippi. I have many fond memories of our large kitchen and the great variety of food.
Lonestarblue
(11,337 posts)LauraInLA
(971 posts)This hillbilly needs no elegy. I dont think they can stand Vance.