Tayari's Blog: I Am Trying to Leave This Alone
Posted by TayariJones on March 6, 2008 08:35 AM
Filed under
Current Events
Really, I am. But this LA Times piece on the Love and Consequences drama was really interesting.
Jones/Seltzer, who claimed to be half Native American and often lapses in the book into the inner-city black vernacular of "hoods," "homies" and "ima make sure," is part of a long tradition of white artists impersonating or borrowing the voices and experiences of racial minorities, experts said. ....
"I think some of the authors of these memoirs have pain and suffering they don't know how to name, so they attach them to something that's universally associated with suffering," like race.
The whole article is really interesting.
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There are 2 comments on "I Am Trying to Leave This Alone". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Tayari Jones ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
This is from Native American Author, LeAnne Howe:
PSA to Literary Agents and Publishers
If an author comes to you claiming she is "half Native American," ask her which nation she's enrolled with. If she doesn't know or says her grandmother was a Cherokee Princess, move along. It will save you a lot of grief.
LeAnne Howe
Here is my website
http://mikokings.wordpress.com
March 7, 2008 10:51 AM
Comment #2, by kgs
Frankly, I'm enjoying every bit of commentary on it from you, Ron Hogan, and everyone else. Thought I'd share that on Wednesday I was teaching a writing workshop for librarians and one of the participants commented that prior to the hullabaloo, the (yet-arrived) book had one reserve on it... when the story hit, the book suddenly got a pile of reserves (even though it still wasn't on the shelves, and at this point never would be).
March 8, 2008 08:06 AM