This was so good!! I hesitate to say “essential” (an overused compliment rn) but you perfectly described how I feel about older literature. It’s far too common for people to assume it’s all problematically racist and imperialist, especially when the writer uses language that was appropriate then but horrifying how. But dismissing the past doesn’t erase past ills; it just makes us more incapable of understanding how we got from then to now.
Also loved your point on how works that seem optically acceptable (no n words) can be flagrantly racist; and how works that seem superficially problematic are really grappling with race and colonialism in a way we can admire and learn from today.
Thanks for this. I have been trying to come to terms with "problematic favorites", especially ones that might counter certain prejudices (ie sexism) but reinforce others. Would you mind if I added a link to this post to my recent one about The Bell Jar where I grapple less articulately with this theme as it pertains to that work? https://thebooktender.substack.com/p/my-muse-is-mad-for-it
This was so good!! I hesitate to say “essential” (an overused compliment rn) but you perfectly described how I feel about older literature. It’s far too common for people to assume it’s all problematically racist and imperialist, especially when the writer uses language that was appropriate then but horrifying how. But dismissing the past doesn’t erase past ills; it just makes us more incapable of understanding how we got from then to now.
Also loved your point on how works that seem optically acceptable (no n words) can be flagrantly racist; and how works that seem superficially problematic are really grappling with race and colonialism in a way we can admire and learn from today.
yes!! exactly! - we can't change the past, and averting our eyes (or our reading) doesn't make the problem go away
Great article. My favorite of this ilk has got to be Flannery O’Connor
Thanks for this. I have been trying to come to terms with "problematic favorites", especially ones that might counter certain prejudices (ie sexism) but reinforce others. Would you mind if I added a link to this post to my recent one about The Bell Jar where I grapple less articulately with this theme as it pertains to that work? https://thebooktender.substack.com/p/my-muse-is-mad-for-it
i’m excited to read your piece - those are the classics i wrestle with most (Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf)
Yes— I picked up Orlando again recently and found it very uncomfortable and also the relevatory potential is huge.
Your comments on Jane Eyre are reminding me of Toni Morrison’s “Playing in the Dark”
I've been meaning to read - but just added to my library holds!