re Re: NP: Twain, Part One and more

[David Morris]

>From: MalignD at aol.com
>Is there an exploitation when an artist (not necessarily Pynchon, but he's 
>the example here) uses the drama of such an event (as the slaughter of the 
>Herero) for artistic ends? [...] Is there a sort of pornographic element in 
>this?
>[...] it seems to generalize to these questions:  how does one properly 
>create art that uses the suffering--and, worse, the slaughter--of others?  
>How should one respond to a moving passage in a work of fiction about such 
>a thing?

MalignD (by way of Doug) has brought another issue (writing about the real 
suffering of another (especially on a massive scale)) into what started out 
as a racial charge:  Twain was characterized as having exploited blacks in a 
manner similar to how white Rock-and-Rollers exploited black music(ians) in 
the 50's and 60's.  That charge is preposterous, and the analogy is very 
sloppy.  Had Twain adapted a black writer's (or speakers) fiction into a 
form acceptable to whites, then he could be said to have exploited them.  
That he wrote a sensitive fiction with a sensitive black character cannot be 
likened to the above at all.  Are men exploiting women when they create a 
women character (or vice versa)?  If anything, Twain was educating a white 
audience about its own racism, and thereby helping real black people.

Regarding MalignD's question, I think all subject matter is fair game for 
art.  God save us from "PC" art.

David Morris

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