Tayari's Blog: The Big O Speaks!
Posted by TayariJones on October 8, 2007 11:42 AM
Filed under
The Writing Life
Oprah has announced her new book club pick: Love In The Time of Cholera. There was a time in my career when I sort of dreamed of winning the Oprah lottery. Remember when she used to pick books by unknowns? Well, over Galleycat, folks are noticing that the book club picks and getting maler and maler. And Jennifer Weiner puts her two cents in.
I wonder if the great O goes out of her way to make sure that she doesn't appear too partisan to the demographic groups to which she belongs. In other words, does she try not to pick too many books by, say, black people, or say, women, in an effort to seem unbiased. I think we have all been in that situation ourselves.
I have been asked to nominate a writer for this or that thing and often another black woman writer would come to mind. I have been to known to hesitate, Would it look funny for me to pick another sister? But then, I figure, other people have no qualms about picking someone that shares their demographics. And besides, how could I look a black woman writer in the eye and tell her that I thought she was the best pick for the position, but I didn't pick her because she was a black woman writer?
Oh the absurdity of our American (writing) Lives.
![[divider]](http://www.tayarijones.com/images/divider.jpg)
There are 6 comments on "The Big O Speaks!". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Teej ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
This is one of those really good examples of how white privilege is so pervasive: I'd be willing to bet that most white women, when faced with a similar choice never even stop to think that it might look funny for them to nominate another white woman. I am trying to make myself more aware of this kind of thing - where I'm only conscious of race when it's a non-white race - but it's a constant struggle. Thank you for pointing this out; hopefully it will cause more of us (whites) to think about things like this.
October 8, 2007 02:32 PM
Comment #2, by carleen
Oh the good old days when the unknown writer might hit the O jackpot! Maybe...still possible. Your next book might be the one! :)
October 8, 2007 09:20 PM
Comment #3, by minaj
I actually think that Oprah is still profoundly affected by the James Frye debacle, and even before that, the problems with Jonathan Franzen. First, she temporarily canceled the Book Club. Then she began to choose authors who were dead and, consequently, much less likely to cause problems! Steinbeck? How safe can you get? I have a ton of respect for what Oprah has achieved, but she does not react well when she feels criticized or misused. Her choices these days could be taken directly from a college syllabus, with an occasional book from a friend (Sidney Poitier, for example) thrown in. Safe choices almost always equate to more male and more white. Also less interesting.
October 8, 2007 10:45 PM
Comment #4, by Tayari Jones
I guess that also speaks to a double standard. Franzen and Frye have a lot in common demographically... but it doesn't seem to make a statement about them as white men. Their race and gender seem as irrelevant as the fact that both their names begin with F. I can't imagine two negative experiences involving any other group where it wouldn't have been interpreted as some sort of pathalogy associated with that group.
October 9, 2007 08:29 AM
Comment #5, by Sarah Schulman
The only queer book she has ever picked was by a heterosexual man.
October 9, 2007 02:21 PM
Comment #6, by Sarah Schulman
PS. For three years I had the job of choosing the fiction panels at The New York Foundation for the Arts. In consultation with the previous person in that position (Jessica Hagedorn), it became obvious that a panel that was all people of color and/or queer (and combinations thereof) would always choose some white/straight writers among the final list of winners. But a panel of all white straight people had no qualms about all white/straight recipients. The dominant group feels no need to be ecumenical. But that is obvious.
October 9, 2007 02:26 PM