Tayari's Blog: Race, Sex, Erica Jong...

Comment #1, by Dakota Knight

Wow! That's a trip. This whole race thing is becoming a big issue. According to Millenia Black on her blog, her publisher just refused to publisher her book unless she changed the race of her characters from white to black. As a debut author myself, I am really disturbed by these developments. Even though I think black writers can make a living writing about black people, I also feel that black writers shouldn't be restricted when it comes to the race of their characters. I still believe that in the end, it's all about the marketing. If your publisher doesn't want to market your book to mainstream audiences, you have to go out and market it yourself. It's not the right way, or the only way, but it is a way. Most readers say they only want to read good fiction and it doesn't matter what the race of the author is. So, write what you want to write, and market it to the people you want to buy it. As far as racism in publishing, I don't know how to tackle that one.

Comment #2, by Michael Fischer

This topic always fascinates me, especially since I'm a fiction writer and teacher. The whole "relate to" issue—don't get me started!

As a white male it does bother me that publishers assume that I'm essentially racist and sexist and can only "relate to" books by white men.

Also, to make this even more complex, as a white male fiction writer, I realize I can't write about certain matters of race and gender (re: appropriation), yet at the same time all writers should be good, diverse readers, which means being informed and educated about literature from as many lenses and angles of the American and Global experience as possible. It seems this would only help my work, even if I’m not writing a novel where sexism and racism are large themes. Good contemporary fiction, I think, just “feels” cultured—with the times. For instance, if you’re a white male writer who only reads Hemingway, you are more likely to have male characters who feel sorry for themselves when they can’t “conquer” “elusive females”; or you are more likely to have a John Wayne-like character like the father in “Indian Camp” who “rescues” a Native American woman from dying during childbirth—because of course all of the Native American men who were already in the “tee-pee” needed the help of one white man to save them, and of course in the end the husband of the woman in labor ends up killing himself because he just can’t take it anymore (I guess Hemingway thought that only white men could have “grace under pressure,” which is ironic). Ugh.

What's funny though is this is precisely the reason I love teaching "The Bluest Eye"—because it forces readers to acknowledge how dangerous and damaging cultural assumptions/sterotypes/biases can be. Students who read Morrison’s novel are able to see how damaging something so seemingly harmless like “The Dick and Jane Reader” can be, and they are thus forced to acknowledge that racism is more than just something perpetuated by a few extremist groups, that the biggest hurdle in tackling racism is convincing the “do-nothing” crowd that they might have some racists tendencies too, even if they’re not part of some extremist group. So this is basically a long-winded way of me asking, did the publishers who "took a chance" on "The Bluest Eye" actually read the book?!

Comment #3, by Jackie

As I read those two postings, I immediately thought of Wally Lamb who accurately captured the voice of a young girl in She's Come Undone. The entire time I was reading that book, I had to keep checking the back cover to make sure he wasn't really a black woman in disguise. Has anyone checked out his short story collection of stories from the women prisioners?

Toni Morrison may be an aferthought to some writers, but there is a small army of us readers who discovered her long before white folks did and we still love her, long after other people's short memories. If Erica Jong wants to make Morrison a footnote in literature, that is just further indication of how far she hasn't come in her own knowledge. What prize has she won recently? This century? Seems to me she just got dusted off and propped back on the display shelf herself to try and sell some books. (I am obviously not having a very good Monday because this race stuff just ticks me off sometimes).

I am bothered by marketers thinking that a character's race is interchangeable and that the readers won't notice. Could those same marketers be responsible for all those remainder books no one wants to buy?

Oh, don't mind me. I need a nap.

Comment #4, by Michael Fischer

I hear ya, Jackie. Actually, after I typed my comments, I asked myself the same question—"but what about writers like Wally Lamb?"

So you're right: at the end of the day, appropriation isn't an issue AS LONG as the writer writing outside of his or her own culture/class/gender/race portrays his or her characters/themes/ideas "truly."

I guess my only concern—and this might sound cowardly on my part, as I don't claim to be infallible—is that so many white male writers have appropriated other cultures/genders/races in the past that it can make it very hard for me to pull it off—not because I wouldn't do my best to do it right, but because so many white male writers before got it wrong. Does that make sense?

I don't know. This is very complex. I'm not sure there is an easy answer. I do feel like certain subjects are "off-limits" to me because of this, but that could just be more of my own problem more than anything else.

Great topic.

Comment #5, by Jackie

Many may have gotten it wrong in the past, but writers like Wally Lamb took the time to get it right. So, no I don't think it is cowardly to think that you can't "appropriate." Rather you have to be in touch with your work to know when you have gotten it right. You could always run it past someone who could tell you how it sounds. I don't know how Lamb did it, but boy was that an eye opener when he did. Can you give me some authors who got it all wrong (not just a little bit, but wrong in a major way)? I would like to check it out.

Comment #6, by Michael Fischer

Wow, that's a loaded question! I’m not even sure I’ve done a good job expressing my thoughts, as this issue is incredibly complex and layered, and it’s something that I’m still struggling to work through for myself—so much so that it’s easy to contradict myself.

The fact that many were "surprised" that Lamb “got it right” does tell me that it has been common for white male writers to "get it wrong,” or perhaps it tells me that not enough white male writers TODAY write outside of their “own experiences”--perhaps for fear of being labeled an “appropriator” (?) Though I could certainly be wrong on this, as there are so many books coming out these days that it is impossible to keep up with them all…(this is basically a fancy way of saying that I’m not as well-read as I should be;-)

Also, I have characters in my stories who are women, of various races, classes, and sexual orientations, but these aren’t stories where racism, sexism, or homophobia are large themes. So I’m not suggesting at all that I can’t have characters in my stories who have different backgrounds than me—I don’t consider such characters “off-limits.” What I mean by “off-limits” is… I don’t have works like “The Institutionist” or “The Handmaid’s Tale” ready to submit to publishers. This is the issue I’m struggling with, not whether to have characters who are different than me in stories, but as a white male..can I really write a novel that might be deemed a “race” or “feminist” novel?

But I think Nadine Gordimer is a good example of a white writer who does write such works and does her best to “get it right,” though some seem to go back-and-forth on her. I haven’t read enough of her work to really say, to be honest.

As far as white male writers who have “gotten it wrong”…people mention Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” as well as Hemingway’s “Indian Camp.” Then you have the whole “Huck Finn” debate, which is another whole sub-topic together. I’m sure there are many more in the Dead White Male Camp. People mention Melville a lot. More contemporary examples…I know there’s a big debate about “Snow Falling on Cedars,” as many feel Gutterson appropriated aspects of Japanese-American culture. Cormac McCarthy’s “All The Pretty Horses"--I know some people who take issue with this novel, where the white cowboys ride into town and the "exotic" Mexican woman falls head-over-heels instantly for John Grady Cole.

Comment #7, by Michael Fischer

*"The Intuitionist"

Comment #8, by Tim Engles

(Hi Tayari!) Fascinating comments here, thanks! I find them especially stimulating since I'm building a course around this issue for fall, (including The Bluest Eye, Seraph on the Suwanee, Savage Holiday, The Ways of White Folks, etc.). Any suggestions for other texts by African American writers that prominently feature white characters would be wonderful. Also, Sherman Alexie often objects to white authors' depictions of Indian characters and Indian-ness, most explicitly in Indian Killer, and also in periodic, scathing reviews of non-fictional portrayals of contemporary Indian-ness. Michael (and others): white writers who try to channel non-white voices is a great topic; what about white writers who depict white characters aware of, and willing to examine, their own whiteness? Are their any good ones? (Adam Mansbach's Angry Black White Boy comes to mind . . .) Why is this so rare?

Comment #9, by Michael Fischer

Tim, that's a great question and one I've thought about deeply. I'm reminded of the James Baldwin quote that Russell Banks often cites—“that the true American novel about racism would be written from the point of view of a white man in a lynch mob." Baldwin’s quote can obviously be taken in numerous contexts, but if I were to ever write a novel about racism, I think it would be more appropriate for me to write from the POV that Baldwin suggests.

As far as Alexie goes, I agree with what he does, because—okay, let me just cut to the chase here, ha—white writers cannot attempt to “speak” for races that their own race has historically oppressed. No matter how liberal, enlightened, and progressive I am, I'm still a white male and am identified with the “colonizer” and the most oppressive symbol in this country’s (and world’s) history, so there are certain POV’s that are off-limits to me as a white writer, as they should be. I don’t think this means that I can’t write from the POV of an African-American character—it just means that I can’t write from the POV of an African-American character who is experiencing white racism; for me to try and give voice to that experience would be appropriation. Besides, African-American writers are doing such a fine job of giving voice to the experience that it would be absurd for a white writer to write from that experience when what is needed is more white writers to write from the POV that Baldwin suggests.

I really don’t know why there aren't more books about “whiteness.” I agree with Banks when he says that white writers need to write more about their whiteness in relation to the rest of the world, instead of just writing about themselves as if they were the only ones who existed.

Comment #10, by Michael Fischer

Sorry for the double post, but Tim, what about Banks' "Cloudsplitter"? I haven't read it, though I think this topic has inspired me to finally take it off my shelf this summer. Though, your students might kill you when they see how long the book is!:)

Comment #11, by Tim Engles

Yes, that one has occured to me, thanks, though its size has kept me too from diving in so far. Your comments on Baldwin inspired me to grab a copy of "Conversations" with him at a used book shop today.

Sorry to clog Tayari's blog with the topic, but I'm looking for more contemporary works in which the whiteness of white characters isn't necessarily examined in relation to otherwise raced characters. Is this even possible?

To quote bell hooks: "One change in direction that would be real cool would be the production of a discourse on race that interrogates whiteness. It would just be so interesting for all those white folks who are giving blacks their take on blackness to let them know what’s going on with whiteness. In far too much contemporary writing—though there are some outstanding exceptions—race is always an issue of Otherness that is not white: it is black, brown, yellow, red, purple even. Yet only a persistent, rigorous, and informed critique of whiteness could really determine what forces of denial, fear, and competition are responsible for creating fundamental gaps between professed political commitment to eradicating racism and the participation in the construction of a discourse on race that perpetuates racial domination."

Comment #12, by Michael Fischer

That is a great quote from Bell Hooks! Honestly, I can't think of any works where white characters examine their whiteness in the sense that Hooks is suggesting. I think such examination of whiteness on the part of white characters is possible, and perhaps the fact that there aren’t many examples (if any at all) of this kind of work is due to the “denial” and “fear” many whites have when it comes to fully participating in a discourse on race relations by first examining themselves.

Most of the white writers I read just, uh, take their whiteness for granted—including myself, as I’m part of the problem too—though I must say this discussion has inspired me to explore this theme in my own fiction, as it appears to be something that NEEDS to be done. Very fascinating stuff.

Hey Tim (or anyone else), if you want to continue this conversation, or if you have any reading (critical or fiction) recommendations related to this topic, feel free to email me at cmfischer_78@netzero.com