**There was another post (now deleted) before this that began the discussion about the lack of black writers in bookstores. I renege on that earlier statement, and clarify that those black authors do exist, but at the demise of cliche titles that probably don't even sell significantly more than the desired counterparts.**
Art is art. Music, Painting, Literature and/or even Dancing all receive the same praises or lack thereof; which is why I shouldn't be surprised at the lack of "attractive power" that good, creative, black books seemed to possess. I'd expect it with rap music, because, unlike literature, it doesn't take years of formal practice to produce. So why would any music listener feel entitled to listen to music as loose and ill-refined as rap music (nowadays anyway)?
Literature stands apart from such amateurish labeling, but it's subjected to the same pressures of unconscious prohibition. This prohibition stems from the inability of current publishers to relate and/or commiserate with black, contemporary authors.
It's frustrating to walk into a Borders store, go straight to the African American section, and see mostly "street lit" books on the life of thugs, pimps and overwhelmingly so, sex (yes Zane, you). If anything at all, I believe these "street lit" books have their moment of enlightenment and entertainment, but at what expense can this be proven. Do these books sell so well that they MUST be the face of the black, literary world? I strongly doubt that. And it's not hate.
I'm sure Zane has her pleasures. Her gritty details involved in describing contexts that lead to sexual situations, and then those scenarios themselves. However, lets be a little skeptical. Reading Zane is like watching Grey's Anatomy; seeing the same thing over and over, though contextualized differently. Can we get some more knowledge to compete with an, already, overly stereotypical characteristic of minorities?
New Music: vØHn x Lupe Fiasco - "Hyperdrive"
5 years ago
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Add to that that movies (sorry to dumb down the media) have the same affliction. How come BET's "Blackbusters" are always movies with Master P or Sticky Fingaz? If a director like Spike Lee makes a film like Inside Man, he gets no closer to an Oscar than Tyler Perry gets with Madea's Family Reunion or a film like Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins gets. To American's black does not just mean black - it means minstrel. Also, if two or more of the main characters are black, it is a black film and the targeted demographic changes. The Hurt Locker would not have won if Anthony Mackie costarred with Derek Luke, Michael Ealy and one white actor. Why have so many people not seen Miracle at St Anna? #SMH
"I have dreamed a dream, but now that dream is gone from me."
-Morpheus
Black authors have and are creating some of the most powerful, interesting, and intellectually stimulating literature out there today. There is no question about the lack of positive representation of this art in bookstores, but bookstores are businesses just like any other. They are for-profit organizations designed to give the people what they want. In recent years, people have not rallied around a conscious reappraisal of the commercial cannon. People want to read Zane far more than they want to read Victor Lavalle. (Look him up. he's dope.). So there is no reason for the bookstore to stock their shelves with artists like that because they will simply stay on the shelves. It doesn't help also, that many voracious readers, the type who would be interested in the literature of the contemporary black intelligentsia, do not regularly purchase books, but instead frequent libraries where they can get books for free. I implicate myself in this category. In our society, the only way talented and conscientious black authors will get the recognition they need is to buy their work, and encourage others to buy there work as well. It is not a question of merit; it is a question of marketability.
Simultaneously, however, there is a vicious cycle operating that relegates black authors to a world of fewer releases. Take, for example, the talented white writer who sells a book for a small profit, writes another then wins an award, and sells a book for an even greater profit. That author can now quit his job, write full-time and saturate the market with his work. Now let's look at the talented black author in the same situation. He sells a book for a smaller profit than the other author for reasons we all know, writes another then wins an award, and sells a few more books than he did before. Since his profits will be far less than the previous author, he will have to supplement his writer's salary with a teaching gig - taking time and energy away from his craft and disallowing a deeper market saturation, which then makes it more difficult for others of like complexion to "make it."
This idea is slightly incompletely, but I am weary.
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