Tayari's Blog: "Universal" is a 4-letter word
Posted by TayariJones on November 10, 2005 09:42 AM
Filed under
Writing
The other day, at a bookstore event, I was asked "How much of your writing is 'black' and how much is 'universal.'" Holy cats. Are people STILL asking writers that????
This is one of those moments where I wish I could go back and say something different that what I said. The question caught me off-guard. I am pretty sure that the man, (who was white), didn't mean anything neccesarily offensive by the question. But, it's two days later and I am still, annoyed, alarmed, and more than a little pissed off.
Let me explain.
I felt, on some level, that the question "how much of your work is universal", was really a question to get me to explain to him that he, a white reader, would be able to "relate" to my work. As though I had to prove that we are, in fact, the same species.
And how would he expect me to answer? With an equation? I am 35% black and the rest is human?
My answer wasn't exactly a hall-of-famer. I think I said something like, "My characters are black and they are human." Or maybe I said something more complicated like, "My characters blackness informs their humanity, which is what makes the story universal." Something like that.
I am never quite sure how to answer those well-meaning (for the most part) white folks who ask me if they "can" read my work. You won't believe it, but it happens all the time. I am asked, "Can people of all races take away something from your work?" I usually go into a sort of friendly welcoming mode, encouraging them to read more work by authors of different races and cultures. I point out to them that I read work by white writers all the time and no harm has come to me what-so-ever. Sometimes, I make a joke out it. A joke of the tension-easing variety.
But maybe I should borrow a page from the rule book of my good friend, Joao Costa Vargas, and simply say, "Would you ask that question to a white writer?"
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There are 7 comments on ""Universal" is a 4-letter word". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Tammee
Hey T,
I think you should do exactly as your friend would. I find it incredibly offensive that people would ask such a question, and I think it's time that we stop letting such people off the hook. Make them a little uncomfortable; don't ease the tension. Maybe they'll think about what they say the next time.
During law school (a very white place), I had a classmate "earnestly" tell me all crime was by black folks. I'm sorry to this day that I didn't let him have it. I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was very young and unsophisticated, but no more. "Well meaning" is just not enough anymore.
November 10, 2005 02:17 PM
Comment #2, by Steven
I would have directed him to Charles Larson's essay "Heroic Ethnocentrism: The Idea of Universality in Literature". It's not just the issue that he equates "black" literature as not being universal, but the fact that he accepts the premise that there is such a thing as universal literature. However, it was a very ignorant comment no matter how you look at it.
November 10, 2005 06:27 PM
Comment #3, by Angel Shannon
Hi Tayari:
Interesting and troublesome post. I'm with you.....to even think that a person would ask such a ridiculous question boggles the mind. And I guess I'm also baffled by what the gentleman thought you could, would, or should say.
I think it speaks volumes about a person and a reader who would feel the need to "interview" a writer before attempting to read their work. For me, reading is all about exploration, it's about enjoying the story for the story's sake. If I'm pulled into the story it's because it's speaking to me in some way, it's saying something about love or pain or hurt or fear or some human condition and that's about all the "universal" I need. I'm currently reading a book by J.M. Coetzee and I don't know (or need to know) a thing about the man. I just know I like the story. But I guess there are people who need to check and verify that things are "safe" before they read; that the coast is clear and they won't be made to see themselves in the mirror for who they really are; stories that --heaven forbid!--might effect some personal transformation. Perhaps for some people, the best authors are those who write stories that are as thin as air and do not wrestle with what they identify as "race" issues. But those folks are, in my opinion, not true readers......
November 11, 2005 08:33 AM
Comment #4, by sherri
I'm looking at this from a different perspective... I think people say things like this and don't even realize it. They don't realize that my experience - as a Black woman -- can be just as universal as theirs. I took it as, a "hey, I want to relate to you. Is your book for me too?". Maybe I'm naive.
I like your friends comment. If you're a thinking person, it might make you stop and think.... and then realize that a good story can be universal -- no matter the writers race.
November 11, 2005 12:32 PM
Comment #5, by sherri
Small side note. Years ago, I managed a group of women that included an older Japanese woman. She had daughters older than I was and we would occasionaly talk about mother/daughter stuff.
Well the Joy Luck Club had been made into a movie, I had enjoyed the book year before so I went to see it. I loved the book. As a woman struggling with her own mother/daughter issues, I could relate -- and frankly I enjoyed the movie (to an extent).
So I go to work on Monday and tell Sue(older Japanese woman) that the movie was great and that she should go see it with her daughters. She listens and says... "But I'm Japanese, not Chinese, you know." and then walks away from me. I laughed later, when I thought about it. I was reccomending it because of the mother/daughter story. That's universal!! What -- did she think that I was CHINESE??
;-)
November 11, 2005 12:38 PM
Comment #6, by Scott Poulson-Bryant
girl girl girlgirlgirl...to quote toni...i just started "the untelling" (picked it up at marcus books after i finished my reading and book signing), and I gotta just say this:
"That is not what Dr. King died for."...brilliant sentence at the end of a truly brilliant opening paragraph. I know this world, these people, already...
Gonna dig in some more tonight, then continue reading on the plane back to NYC tomorrow morning.
just had to write to tell you that...
best to you,
scott
November 12, 2005 12:52 AM
Comment #7, by Obi
Dear Tayari Jones,
I found it very interesting that this type of issue occurs so blatent. But as I thought about it, I realized that there can be no "universal" because every individual is ethnocentric in there own right. That man asked you that question because he assumes that you write from your experiences and from the persective of "A Black Woman". Now no one is to say that he is wrong in doing so but we do this all the time as he did without realizing it. Your experiences as a black woman does not coincide with his experince as a white man therefore, there is no universal connection between the two.
I would love to speak with you more about these issues.
sincerely, Obi ;-)
December 5, 2005 07:00 PM