Toni Morrison raises many interesting points in her book Playing in the Dark. I found the reading to be somewhat monotonous but overall I learned some good things. Most interesting, however, was her idea that the book Sapphira and the Slave Girl is a failure because of the literary Discourse of the author, and that Willa Cather, as a white author, could not possibly write a successful novel on the life of a slave. Although this issue is an example of her books theme of Blackness in literature it can raise interesting comparisons to my choice novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. And although Crane can be Compared to Cather in this way through this novel he comes as close as someone possibly could to producing a successful book without the background acquired through experience.
It is widely discussed in the literary world of Civil War novels, the issue of Crane's novel. The fact that Crane wrote this novel without any actual battle experience baffles the mind. He is able to create such a realistic and powerful image of the carnage and bloodshed experienced in the war that you would have no idea that he had not actually participated. This being one of the first wars in mankind to be widely written about in the newspapers, most of what Crane knew about the war was gleaned from these texts. This seems to completely contradict what Toni Morrison states in Playing in the Dark. Despite his disadvantages in the realm of Discourse, Crane is able to create a highly realistic and believable look into the life of soldiers during the Civil War. This leads one to believe that maybe the only area where her statement is relevant is in the field of Blackness or even only in relation to Sapphira and the Slave Girl.
While I do not personally believe that it discredits her idea entirely, Stephen Crane's ability to contradict this major theme in the first chapter of Morrison's book presents me with an interesting feeling of doubt. Also the fact that Cather wrote her novel almost fifty years after Crane raises some interesting arguments. However the simple style and descriptions Crane incorporates into his novel really allow him to challenge this judgement passed by Morrison. He is able to rise above the criticism to create a truly great novel.
I like the argument you come up with, Geof. It's an interesting discussion as to whether or not an author can authentically depict an experience (or Discourse, as you aptly term it) he or she is not privy to. One way to take this further might be to follow up on Morrison's discussion on Cather. It isn't just the fact that Cather is white, Morrison says, that prevents her from writing a coherent novel, it's that the narrative templates for the non-white characters Cather depicts don't exist in our culture. I wonder if Crane is able to succeed because he did have access to narrative templates when writing about war?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Geof, for the discussion!