Tracking the ever-elusive Great American Novel

[Paul Mackin]

On May 23, 2006, at 12:34 PM, jd wrote:

> Sorry, I have a habit of ctrl-a + deleting the previous text.  Using
> gmail everything comes up in a linear fashion, almost like a forum, so
> it's not quite as confusing.  Will try to remember to keep the
> previous text in the future.
>
> And I'm not being racist or chauvinistic (if in fact you were
> referencing my comment)!

The "racist or chauvinistic" wasn't meant to apply to anyone here.

Just making a joke about the fact that those too bad things plus
"redneck" did come up.


> Just because I happen to be male and white
> does not mean I'm being racist or chauvinistic just because I think a
> book that happens to be written by a black female is bad.  I simply
> found both of the books I read by her trite and simple-minded.  An
> albino on steroids could have written them and I'd still feel the same
> way.  I certainly think a lot of people out there honestly like her
> writing, but I also feel there's a percentage of those who get caught
> up with the fact that she's black and female and fail to make an
> honest judgement based on her written text alone - and in fact they
> bring the race / gender of the author into their judgement more than
> someone who simply studies the words.  (and I'm not saying anyone on
> this list does that, for the record, because I've not seen anyone make
> any statement that would necessarily indicate such, but I have
> certainly met people out there who do this).
>
> On 5/23/06, Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>> On May 23, 2006, at 10:38 AM, jd wrote:
>>
>> > anti-feminist anger?  Jesus christ jbor, I was playing along til  
>> then
>> > but that's just silly.  Just because someone wins a Nobel Prize
>> > doesn't make them some kind of goddess incapable of a few wrong  
>> words.
>> > It has nothing to do with the fact that she's black, or that  
>> she's a
>> > she, and everything to do with a few simple words spoken by a  
>> person.
>> > And certainly no reason to start a petty e-bet.
>> >
>> > Tony Morrison is a shitty writer.  She's a popular shitty  
>> writer, but
>> > you know what?  DaVinci Code outsold the Bible, so that's what the
>> > measure of popularity is worth.  I think that I've given up my  
>> usual
>> > middle of the road stance to come to a firm opinion on this.
>> >
>> > "blatant redneck misrepresentation of them" - if buying into some
>> > trite BS is "redneck" (though it doesn't really make sense to make
>> > this a race thing considering I find Ewidge Danticat, Frederick
>> > Douglas, and Ralph Ellison fine authors) then damnit, American by
>> > birth, Southern by the grace of God!
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> jd has introduced the innovation of not including the message one is
>> responding to.
>>
>> Which is OK.
>>
>> It's getting harder and harder to remember who said what and to whom,
>> on what occasion,  whether publicly or privately,  whether in a
>> racist or
>> male-chauvinistic manner, whether this type of confusion just adds to
>> the fun, whether the whole thing would be even better if Doug were
>> still on board.
>>
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