Black Lit Too Dangerous?
So I’m not unemployed just yet, but I’m still quite busy working on my book, which explains why this entry wasn’t posted sooner. In addition, this past weekend my good friend Cimminnee and I decided to attend the “Black and White” seminar that took place at Blue Met. You may remember that in a previous entry I suggested a modification of the title and theme “Black and White: Black writers in a white world, black writers in a black world…” I haven’t changed my opinion about this.
The panel consisted of Kenyan publisher Binyavanga Wainaina, American professor and poet Ed Pavlic, Quebec author Nalini Warriar, and St. Lucian poet and playwright Derek Walcott (the only Nobel Prize-winning author at the festival this year). The animator of the event was Canadian literary critic Donna Bailey Nurse.
There was talk of early literary influences, and whether or not one can still appreciate the literature of Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Conrad and the like, despite the fact that their work contains traces of bigotry. One of the more popular questions posed to the writers was whether or not there is still a need for a Black genre in literature? This provoked a serious debate. Mr. Walcott was certainly adamant and controversial in his opinion about a place for Black literature. He believed that with the exception of African-Americans and Native Americans, the idea of having a genre based on race or gender is dangerous and narrows a writer in the literary field. He even deemed this a “silly question.”
There were others on the panel that partly agreed, but there were many more members of the audience who disagreed with Walcott’s position on this question. My friend Cimminnee aptly pointed out that if this is a “silly question” then Walcott is “silly” for sitting on such a panel. After all, wasn’t the Black genre the focus of the “Black and White” event?
This is an ongoing debate that I don’t think will end anytime soon. It’s very much like when a black writer is asked if he/she sees himself or herself as a black writer, or male/female writer, or a black male/female writer.
I too have to agree that narrowing oneself is a dangerous act, but in Canada there hasn’t always been equal opportunity for the voices of Black Canadian artists. Like the aboriginals and the older generations of Asian immigrants in British Columbia, Black Canadians haven’t been fairly represented in the Canadian history books. People still don’t know that slavery existed in this country. I don’t see an overwhelming emphasis on Black Canadian writing within academic institutions in Canada. When I took a Canadian lit class while earning my bachelors degree we dissected Canadian literature from the likes of Susanna Moodie, Hugh MacLennan, Ralph Connor and Lucy Maud Montgomery. The professor of this course didn’t add one Black Canadian author to the list. Those lectures left me wondering, “Where are the George Elliot Clarkes, the Austin Clarkes and the Dany Laferrieres?”
So is there still room for a Black genre? Of course there is, but it should not be the be all and end all of literature for Black writers.
See the Black Ink Album menu to the right for my amateur photos I took at the festival.
