Racism In Literature

[BigWords]

I blogged about the problem of racism in relation specifically to The Airlords Of Han novella (and the other books of the era were mentioned) but I think that it is still necessary to concern ourselves with the way other races are treated in fiction. There are still books being published which concern me as being (if not openly racist) questionable in their depiction of other cultures. To say that this problem has gone away is ludicrous - even this year there have been manga which offer attacks on Japan's neighbors, and I'm certain that the proliferation of e-books with no editorial supervision will continue to offer an outlet for the themes and ideas which supporters of outmoded views will use.

 

Should racist literature be red-flagged for content?

Should racist literature be removed from the net? (and from someone who doesn't believe in censorship, I'm slowly coming around to the viewpoint that it would be easier to remove it to somewhere it can't be readily placed in the hands of people who take joy in the suffering of others)

Should racist literature be prosecuted?

 

I want to hear views on this before I start shouting off about racism again.

[dzposableheroes]

In the right hands literature containing racism can be good. It could be a great teaching tool against racism. Unfortunately there is the other half of things where it is so public and that anyone can get a hold of it at any time. And the majority of the time these people get to read it unsupervised and aren't given the chance to discuss what they read and the impact it might have. This happens with a lot of things, not just books with racist themes. It falls to the parents and teachers to make sure that when and if this literature falls into the hands of young minds that it teaches them right from wrong.

 

I don't think it should be banned. First of all there is the right to free speech. But I think it helps people see what racism is like and the damage it can do. I think it could do more good then bad. And besides, when things like this are banned, it is just one more way to control the general populace and not in a good way.

 

Hope this makes some sort of sense and I'm not just ranting unintelligibly.

[BigWords]

I've been strongly anti-censorship for years, so to even suggest it means that I'm seriously annoyed at how casually it is perceived in areas where I would expect some level of even-handedness. One idea with which I am quite taken is the concept of an "in context" foreword to reprints of books, especially some of the pulpier material which is coming back into fashion again. If essays by prominent thinkers were placed before the work to frame it in the correct reading of the text - say, a historian of literature prefacing Tarzan Of The Apes with an understanding of the social and political dynamics of the era when the book was published - I would be more forgiving.

[Scarlette]

I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand I want to say "quit complaining, it's just fiction", but on the other hand I'm inclined to agree with you. I very much want to think that there are more intelligent than less so readers out there who can keep an open mind about prejudiced issues raised in books and see it for what it is - an idea from a different era. The idea of having an informative essay as a foreword sounds interesting to me, and something that could be applied to any novel containing such issues. The only thing is: That would work very well with a classic novel, but I doubt it would with more modern literature.

[vinay87]

Racism isn't that pronounced in my country. Rather we have other problems and people don't realise that they're being racist.

But besides that, I feel censorship is just wrong. Even if a book is completely proracism, it does not justify being wiping it out of all literature. Someone can find a use for it. Maybe in teaching, as has been said. Or maybe in an example of bad writing.

[Kell]

There is, of course, a difference between racist literature and literature which has racism as part of the plot. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee isn't, in my opinion, a racist novel, but portrays racism in a small southern American town perfectly - it decries racism by showing how easily racism can become a part of daily life. Also, The Colour Purple by Alice Walker is not a racist novel, but again contains scenes that depict racism (or example Sofia being jailed for defending herself against a white man).

 

There are many novels with lead characters who are overtly racist, but this doesn't necessarily reflect the feelings of the authors themselves.

 

And of course, there are novels which reflect the feelings of the times in which they were written. Consider Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - "Man Friday" isn't even given a real name, just the day of the week on which he is rescued by Crusoe, and he becomes the servant of Crusoe (the fact that the man has his own name but it is completely disregarded by Crusoe who renames him is incredibly presumptious and racist). At the time of writing, that would have seemed the natural order of things; for the white man to be in charge.

 

At what point do we draw the line and decide a piece of literature is racist?

Edited February 21, 2010 by Kell

[Nollaig]

I would never be in favour of banning it. Kell's Robinson Crusoe point is an excellent one both in that it's not a racist book, and in that it's an illustration of cultural change, something I don't think should be censored either.

 

Overall, I tend to be of the opinion that you can't say ANYTHING anymore or you're racist or sexist or some other 'ist', and it's hitting a point of ridicule. If people don't want to read anything that might be construed as racist, don't read it. If you read something and suddenly hate black people, you were probably doomed to begin with.

 

Personally, reading a book I later felt was purely racist without dealing with the subject objectively, it would make me LESS racist because I would think, 'I don't want to be like that'.

 

I think it's an incredibly subjective topic, and that it's too subjective to really draw a definitive line.

[Tristan]

I've heard a similar discussion a while ago. A friend of mine was interested in purchasing 'Mein Kampf' and was pelted with a reasonable amount of flack because of it. He proclaimed it was for historic interest only, and that he didn't harbour any racist feelings, but it didn't take. The poor man.

 

I'm personally fine with racist material being available to the public, but not because I support such works. I just don't believe in censorship. It's the worst thing that can happen to the book medium, and really any medium. Let the people decide for themselves on what to read, think what they want. As long as they don't harm society by putting those thoughts to actions, that is.

[Nollaig]

I have a copy of Mein Kampf somewhere - I haven't read it but I probably will. I wouldn't hold that against anyone, I don't see the problem in reading it.

[Tristan]

I have a copy of Mein Kampf somewhere - I haven't read it but I probably will. I wouldn't hold that against anyone, I don't see the problem in reading it.

 

 

I would get killed, literally killed (well, incapacitated at least) for having that work in my possession, whatever the reason. My gf is Brazilian, and extremely sensitive to racism. Can't say I blame her, really. It's really hard for her sometimes..

[Nollaig]

I had a Jewish friend when I was a bit younger. He didn't mind that I wanted to read it, he expressed some interest himself. I don't think it's fair to judge someone simply reading a book if they're not racist themselves - no book is going to make me feel like racism is justifiable, and it's pure curiosity that makes me want to read it. I'd probably hate the man even more after reading it, actually.

[StephenKingman]

I have not read the books mentioned in the thread so far but i will say that Stephen King does seem to have racial overtones in his books when mentioning the Irish. Whether through ignorance or otherwise, i can think of many references King has made of the Irish people being drunken louts who live in a field and chase cows all day long and start fights in pubs every night, very misguided view but one shared by many authors who need to realise that Ieland has moved on (despite the recession!) and is one of the most modern and cosmopolitan countries in the world.

 

In his recent book Under the Dome, King chose an Aer Lingus flight to mock the Irish. I wont spoil what part but it annoyed me that he continues to knock us, and one of the few criticisms i have of him.

[Scarlette]

I have a copy of Mein Kampf somewhere - I haven't read it but I probably will. I wouldn't hold that against anyone, I don't see the problem in reading it.

 

I think Mein Kampf is a very important piece of historical literature. It may be a cruel piece of work, certainly not something to read for fun, but essential reading if you long to understand the events of that era. I'd like to have a look at it myself sometime, although the copy I saw looked quite daunting.

 

Back on topic, though. This morning my mind digressed somewhat and I didn't post everything I wanted to say. I understand and see what harm purely racist literature can have, but I think we must be careful about wanting to ban it entirely. Racism is very much a part of human history - and as a bit of a history nut, I certainly don't want to see literature and historical texts on the subject wiped out simply because they're upsetting.

 

As someone who picks up a pen once in a while, I also appreciate that, harmful as it can be, racism in literature can add to a storyline, demonstrate the views of a character, and demonstrate the historical period a story takes place. In short, it can be a useful tool if you set out to write a realistic piece of work.

 

I want to mention what I said before again, briefly: readers need to be intelligent about what they're reading and they need to understand it in context.

[Vladd]

I suppose a book has to be examined with the period it was written taken into account. Some people have accused Lovecraft of racism in his writing, other people say he reflects the view of the time. I recently attempted to read a Fu Manchu book and couldn't finish it as the blatent racism in the story was a little hard to stomach.

[BigWords]

The idea of having an informative essay as a foreword sounds interesting to me, and something that could be applied to any novel containing such issues. The only thing is: That would work very well with a classic novel, but I doubt it would with more modern literature.

 

It isn't so much the theme of racism (Harper Lee gets no criticism from me), nor the fact that a character is racist which has been bothering me. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Philip Francis Nowlan, and Sax Rohmer (and others) all use casual racist epithets throughout their texts - in descriptions of characters, not through the words of their characters. This, to me anyways, crosses the line between using racism in the context of a story (as Harper Lee did) and being... Well, the judgments on the authors can be seen in their writing.

 

Overall, I tend to be of the opinion that you can't say ANYTHING anymore or you're racist or sexist or some other 'ist', and it's hitting a point of ridicule. If people don't want to read anything that might be construed as racist, don't read it. If you read something and suddenly hate black people, you were probably doomed to begin with.

 

It seems to be a recurring theme that anything disliked enough by a minority gets pulled from the shelves anyways. There was a kerfuffle over a reprint of Tintin In The Congo a few years back (which shouldn't have been in the childrens section anyway, IMO) and a Dandy (?) annual reprint (I think that was another 1940s title) made the newspapers due to its' depiction of a character. I don't have the Little Sambo (?) cartoons to hand at the moment, but an internet search should reveal exactly why so much was made of D.C. Thompson's decision to release it unedited and without due annotation.

 

In his recent book Under the Dome, King chose an Aer Lingus flight to mock the Irish. I wont spoil what part but it annoyed me that he continues to knock us, and one of the few criticisms i have of him.

 

I think (though I would have to flick through the books again to confirm my suspicions) that King uses the trope of "the drunken, stupid Irish" as a joke rather than anything else, but it does bring into question the responsibility of authors in regards to alienating entire demographics. And I was under the impression he had some Irish blood in him, making the joke somewhat at his own expense. There is too fine a line on modern authors for the most part - it's the dusty old racism left over from the Empire which is bugging me at the moment. There are plenty of books which I'm struggling to contemplate reading (and in some cases re-reading) due to the heavy overtones of smug superiority through them.

[Freewheeling Andy]

I'd think there are two different questions here:

 

(1) Should we ban modern books that try to stoke up racism?

(2) Should we ban books that are clearly racist, but were written a long time ago

 

The second, for books like - for instance - Evelyn Waugh's Scoop, I think it's a no-brainer. Of course you shouldn't ban this stuff.

 

The first, though, is a tougher one. My personal taste is that there should be no censorship of anything, but I can understand the argument.

 

I suppose there's a third, peripheral question, specifically when it comes to childrens' books, and because of their influence on young minds. Should, say, the old Biggles books, or Little Black Sambo, or even Robinson Crusoe, be available to kids, or pushed on kids by parents and teachers. Often great books, but you have to wonder whether the concealed prejudices of the authors will come through too strong on the malleable young minds.

 

My answer here is much more prevaricating: I think there should be some restriction, but I'd hate to see this stuff banned. And it's hard to know where to draw the lines.

[Vladd]

Of course it could be argued that if society bans books now because we don't agree with the views expressed what is to stop future societies banning what we regard as acceptable views? Or will we end up with an army of Winston Smiths' changing books to fit the official line? A sad fact is though it doesn't matter to a lot of people if racism exists in novels as they never read anything more challenging than Heat or OK.

[BookJumper]

If you read something and suddenly hate black people, you were probably doomed to begin with.

Precisely. The way I understand art (from books to music via painting etc.) is that it affects us because it reflects something that is already within our souls in ways we might struggle to articulate ourselves. While a book may encourage me to think about an issue, it is not going to suddenly turn my ideals upside down.

 

(1) Should we ban modern books that try to stoke up racism?

(2) Should we ban books that are clearly racist, but were written a long time ago

(1) is a toughie. If I were a publisher today, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with an openly racist author, I know that much.

 

(2) is indeed a no brainer. Example: in my Global/Local Shakespeares class I was given examples of the racist/sexist comments made by Samuel Taylor Coleridge; however, it would be a mistake not to file Coleridge under Shakespearean Criticism in the library for - 'ist' or no - the man also made innumerable sensible points which are still relevant to students and scholars.

[Dimitra]

(1) Should we ban modern books that try to stoke up racism?

(2) Should we ban books that are clearly racist, but were written a long time ago

1) Books that are clearly racist shouldn't even be approved by the publishers.

2) I think this one can be forgiven, to some extent at least.

[Kell]

Another quick question:

 

If Mein Kampf had not already been published and the papers were discovered today in a bunker somewhere, where they'd been concealed all this time, would you want to have it published now?

 

I've never read it, but I do intend to one of these days as I believe it to be a very important piece of our history that should not ever be forgotten. Do we stop publishing this kind of thing and sweep it all under the carpet, pretending it never happened? If we do that, we risk returning to the same mistakes over and over again.

[Raskolnikov]

Racism is the top high immoral standard of our societies.

In the meantime, serial killers stories are overflowing our shelves.

Mankind is not worth a sacrifice, but anti-racism is. How absurd.

As Wilde nicely put : 'There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book, Books are well written, or badly written. That is all'.

[Scarlette]

Another quick question:

 

If Mein Kampf had not already been published and the papers were discovered today in a bunker somewhere, where they'd been concealed all this time, would you want to have it published now?

 

I've never read it, but I do intend to one of these days as I believe it to be a very important piece of our history that should not ever be forgotten. Do we stop publishing this kind of thing and sweep it all under the carpet, pretending it never happened? If we do that, we risk returning to the same mistakes over and over again.

 

I would still want it published, yes. It would still count as an important historical document, in my opinion.

[BigWords]

If I were a publisher today, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with an openly racist author, I know that much.

 

The holocaust-deniers seem to have found willing publishers, though - as I haven't read any of the books - I don't know if a disclaimer of some sort has been added.

 

If Mein Kampf had not already been published and the papers were discovered today in a bunker somewhere, where they'd been concealed all this time, would you want to have it published now?

 

This is one instance where, no matter the subject matter, historical importance overrides personal opinion. There is a Penguin edition of the book which I have somewhere, though I have yet to open it, much less read it. I'll get around to it one of these days, but it still doesn't seem the easiest reading material.

 

Racism is the top high immoral standard of our societies.

In the meantime, serial killers stories are overflowing our shelves.

 

Morbid fascination with serial killers such as Manson is another debate, but I rarely find anything of merit in the step-by-step books. The psychology is more interesting than the actual murders, though publishers find it hard to push a book which doesn't titillate those seeking the macabre on some level.

[BookJumper]

The holocaust-deniers seem to have found willing publishers, though - as I haven't read any of the books - I don't know if a disclaimer of some sort has been added.

Ah but you, see, I'm a principle-ridden idealist. Many people, alas, are not.

[Rhienne]

I think its important that racist books or books containing racism should be published. Racism is unfortunately a part of our global community, and people need to be made aware of it. Sometimes reading a book that portrays something like murder or rape in a favourable light really repulses people and this is an important mechanism. It keeps us aware that racism is an ongoing issue.

 

If racist novels were censored, would it then be neccessary to censor television shows and movies which depict racism? In this case, it would appear on the surface that racism had gone away, but it would just not be something that was in the public eye anymore.