re Re: NP: Twain, Part One and more

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

From: "David Morris" <fqmorris at hotmail.com>
 
 [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.]

Of course, you're right, and the esteem that some black foax
seem to hold for Twain's work speaks to that, but in another
sense, Twain was more exploitative than the white rock 'n rollers.
Twain did not purloin primarily the art of 'niggers' and turn it
into a successful career, he tried to steal their souls. Some would
say he WAS successful.

[ 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)?]

You bet, especially if it's successful.

[If anything, Twain was educating a white audience about its own racism, and thereby 
helping real black people.]

Maybe he was eploiting whites, as well?

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

And maybe from all art so that we might then stop neglecting
reality? But I'm beginning to sound like a Muslim...