Disability; Disappointment

It is unsurprising that the new issue of the Bellevue Literary Review, published by the Department of Medicine at New York University, should focus on disability. It seems a perfectly suited theme, if one that is far narrower and less interesting than their founding principles: humanity and human experience. There is a long tradition in American literature of disabled antagonists, but Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" comes immediately to mind, and the short story "The Girl with the Mechanical Leg" in this issue of BLR recalls that well-known work, "questioning the concept of justice and truth" raised by O'Connor's Bible salesman. It is one of the more interesting pieces of fiction in the journal, even if the prose is never more than workmanlike.

The majority of the work in this issue concerns a generally traditional approach to disability, focusing on the difficulty and the human struggle of the afflicted, or on the difficulty faced by their loved ones. Certain pieces break out of the mold, though. The poem "My Friend Paul Says" uses a biting sarcasm to unpack a moralist tirade on using "abortion and prenatal testing" to avoid "babies who have something seriously wrong with them like X." The speaker says, "I have X," and wonders, "which variable would make me less worthy of living?"

The better pieces evoke reactions that are well-removed from pity -- "My Friend Paul Says", "Brief Disclaimer to Those Who are About to Read..." -- and though all of the work in the journal is relatively strong, too many of them are full of the sort of stock dynamics one might find on daytime television. But those are the key problems with themed issues: finding the best work that deals with a certain theme instead of collecting simply the best possible work. They'll be, almost by necessity, weaker than a general literary journal, and this issue of the Bellevue Literary Review is no exception.