Review – Eleanor Among the Saints

Eleanor Among the Saintsby Rachel MannGenres: Poetry Pages: 80 Rating: Synopsis: In her second collection, Mann wrestles with the questions and possibilities raised when trans identity, faith and the limits of myth and language intersect and are tested. Eleanor Among the Saints is a study in the queer joy found in counter-factuals and fantasy, shaped through the prism of the disputed story of Eleanor Rykener, a medieval trans woman, seamstress and sex worker. I got very irritated by aspects of the style in Rachel Mann’s Eleanor Among the Saints (omitting many definite and indefinite articles, for instance), but there were times it definitely managed to borrow the sound of scripture very effectively, and it often felt like it’d be very rich to read aloud, and to dig deep into and dissect with close reading — even if I didn’t enjoy it very much per se in and of itself. I did love learning a little about John/Eleanor Rykener as a result of having read this; I appreciated the explanatory…