Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
The bookselling behemoth recently announced that their flagship Fifth Avenue location will partner with publishing giant Penguin Random House to celebrate Black History Month and highlight diversity. And if you assumed this news meant B&N planned to shine a spotlight on black authors or even books about black people, you’re wrong. Instead of focusing on the content of books, they had had a different, more Bookman-like approach:
They put their books in blackface.
Seriously. To honor black people, they decided to showcase a selection of white-centered literary tomes. But, instead of acknowledging that the books were written by white people who wrote about white people, these genius marketers simply slapped a diverse selection of black faces on the books’ covers.
According to Publishers Weekly, the Penguin Random House and Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue will have designed “Diverse Edition” covers for “twelve classic young adult novels.”
“Each title had five culturally diverse custom covers designed to ensure the recognition, representation, and inclusion of various multiethnic backgrounds reflected across the country,” AMNY reports. “The new covers are a part of a new initiative to champion diversity in literature.”
The collection of not-so-African American literature featured unapologetically non-black authors such as Lewis Carol (Alice in Wonderland), William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet) and James Matthew Barrie (Peter Pan). Other “classics” that will be highlighted for detailing the white experience during BHM include:
- Moby Dick
- The Secret Garden
- Emma
- The Wizard of Oz
- Peter Pan
- Treasure Island
Apparently, black people don’t write “classic” books.
To be fair, Alexander Dumas, who wrote Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo had a black grandmother. Both books made the list, which should count for something. Richard Wright’s Native Son is probably too real, as is Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon or Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Maya Angelou’s young adult, coming-of-age tale, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings isn’t exactly for young (white) adults, while books about serial killers (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is on the list) or reanimated cadavers (Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein) must be much more palatable for white eyes.
https://www.theroot.com/books-in-blackface-barnes-noble-celebrates-black-his-1841473226
Comments
Barnes & Noble canceled the literary blackface project.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barnes-noble-black-history-month_n_5e3b5eb7c5b6bb0ffc0abfd7
by rmrd0000 on Wed, 02/05/2020 - 10:52pm
more here Barnes & Noble Reverses Course on Redesigned Book Covers
By Concepción de León @ NYTimes.com/Books, Feb. 5, 2020
The bookseller planned to promote classic novels with covers featuring people of color for Black History Month. Critics accused it of “literary blackface.”
by artappraiser on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 2:03am
It is 2020 and the nonsense continues
From the NYT article
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/books/barnes-and-noble-fifth-avenue.html
by rmrd0000 on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 12:40pm
I can get quite upset when Fiction novels are not perfectly accurate. For example I was so angry with the way Martians were portrayed in Stranger in a Strange Land. That's just not how Martians are. Or when I watched Heathers. Not only didn't it accurately depict teen behavior in high school it didn't depicted mass killers accurately. What is it with these Fictional stories making things up? It's just not right.
by ocean-kat on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 1:56pm
You are predictable.
No one objects to the white literature. The objection is to putting characters in blackface as the tribute to Black History Month. Actual black authors were dismissed, but you knew that. Fortunately, you are not in charge and the publisher had the good sense to cancel the misguided project. Thanks for once again proving who you are.
Best laugh I had all day.
Edit to add:
Just recently, there are rediscovered works of Zora Neal Hurston and Claude McKay
https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062915795/hitting-a-straight-lick-with-a-crooked-stick/
Claude McKay
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/books/claude-mckay-romance-marseille-harlem-renaissance.html
by rmrd0000 on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 2:41pm
Jezz, I thought we finally found something we agreed about. We're both upset that Fiction isn't true.
by ocean-kat on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 2:33pm
More confirmation.
by rmrd0000 on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 2:42pm
Oh well, as I'm sure you'll agree since you yourself posted it, "You can yell about the injustice, but it changes nothing."
by ocean-kat on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 3:18pm
You might disturb the neighbors. If you had any.
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 3:31pm
Your words mean nothing.
Under public pressure, the company halted the insulting project.
You stand in your yard yelling into the wind.
by rmrd0000 on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 7:04am
Maybe you just need to grok better.
Yet grokking's changed a lot in the last 60 years... maybe can't turn the clock back.
https://theoutline.com/post/2706/the-misogyny-of-stranger-in-a-strange-l...
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 6:07pm
Wow, kinda unfair for you to focus on Heinlein's misogyny when he was so homophobic. I guess you just don't care about the gays, just the women.
by ocean-kat on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 6:33pm
I just haven't come out yet. You'll be the first to know.
Meanwhile, gotta love them beards.
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 6:40pm
I don't see any cause for outrage. I see an activist "black community" who markets to a "black community" laughing at B & N cluelessly choosing a stupid, self-defeating way to take advantage of the clever marketing campaign that is "Black History Month."
Reality: they just want to make money off "Black History Month." Of course they are going to change the plan when black activists make fun of what they chose to do and they research it and find that their target demographic is agreeing that it's stupid.
The only real racism here is trying to make money off of a group of people according to the color of their skin. Think about it. Is the sort of thing Martin Luther King thought about. May be necessary in the present but hopefully someday we'll get to the stage where none of it "sells".
Hopefully someday there will be "Human History Month", not "Black History Month" in the content selling business.
Meantime, there's no need for outrage here. When the target demographic (tribe) speaks with cold hard cash, they get their way. The demographic (tribe) has unfortunately been selected by color of skin.
by artappraiser on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 4:12pm
This is not a case of me mistakenly putting something on the wrong thread:
by artappraiser on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 7:29pm
I dunno, I see it as useful to have a Black History Month and remind whites among others of some pretty great works by black authors. It's been a long time since I read Baldwin or Native Son, and while I've seen the movie a few times, "The Color Purple" is still sitting on my shelf, and I'm sure there's a lot of obscure great works that readers would appreciate, partly could be cuz of some intrigue/appreciation it's black writers they didn't know, partly because they're great stories and it doesn't really matter that much who wrote them.
I spent a few years reading a lot of Latin American writers - and crave the opportunity to start name-dropping the lesser known ones, occasionally people even appreciate the advice ("now will you get off my porch and let me go to sleep...?"). Similar with a lot of other genres (JR gets the occult references). I mean, sure, we can do the "Top 100 of All Time" stuff, but then we're anxious for that followup "Top 20 obscure books you probably haven't read" to compensate for the over-conservatism of the usual Tippity Top list, and then there's the Satellite Flix Dennis Hartley over at Digbys releasing specialized movie lists for every occasion... https://denofcinema.com/, and I was pleased that recent South Korean film Predator was so good and accessible and not another Asian gangster piece or kitschy family & food epic.
Niche is good, identity is good, diversity is good, main current & side currents are good.
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 6:27am
You are why we have so-called identity politics. You remain in a bubble regarding how dismissive institutions are when it comes to black people. You rational white tribal behavior and tell blacks the only option is to comply. You have no problem with white tribal behavior, but lash out when blacks respond. In your eyes, blacks can only protest when you agree.
by rmrd0000 on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 7:08am
Uh, AA has a *lot* of trouble with white tribal behavior.
Maybe less lecturing, more grokking?
And perhaps go 2 days without using the word "bubble" - it's starting to complain about overwork and harassment.
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 8:33am
She is tribal. The world has to work her way and only her way. She views everyone else as tribal or practicing identity politics, but she is a poster child for tribalism.
Edit to add:
In this case, she feels that people of color have no reason to protest. They are accused of being "tribal" because they break the rules of her own tribal bias. It is her way or the highway.
2nd Edit to add:
AA disagrees with a group who protests, therefore they are automatically "tribal". She wants Human History Month as long as it agrees with her tribal beliefs.
by rmrd0000 on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 10:13am
As blog admin, I can't prescribe medication sadly (no Drupal plug-in for that, though I'm tempted to write one), nor offer psychological advice.
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 10:48am