This is so fucking asinine. I am a 62 year old man who knew I was gay in middle school in 1975. I had no representation and figured things out on my own. Fiction is fiction. Authenticity isn’t the point…it’s made up! This reeks of how Soviet and Chinese artists were punished for being incorrect in representing their workers’ “paradise.”
That has not been my experience with sensitivity reads and I have had two. That said, both novels are self-published so there isn't the anxiety the publishers might have about offending people or getting review bombed for doing so. For me it's not so much about whether or not you said something racist on page 72. It's more having eyes on it from a person who has been in that milieu and knows the little extra things that make it more authentic. I found it a very enjoyable and interesting experience and was happy to incorporate the suggestions made. I felt it deepened the characters and made them more grounded.
I'm reading this book right now. It's something I spend a lot of time thinking about. There are real right-wing threats to books, real censorship.
But it's almost like that fact allows people on the left (including me) to ignore the trouble in our own backyard. It does seem like a lot of these controversies erupt online, which allows for people who've never even read a particular book to suddenly have a take so they can signal which side they are on. It's all about making sure they say the right thing at the right time, lest they be considered a traitor to the cause, whatever that cause may be.
I am specifically thinking of that weird thing that happened with Lauren Hough a couple of years ago when she tried to defend her friend's book before it was even available to read, and she got caught up in the crossfire and was removed from consideration for the Lambda literary award. And what she basically said was, hey guys, read the book first.
Oh, wow. I’d missed that Lauren Hough dustup and just looked it up. It’s a great example of a comment I made in passing at the end of this story: Extraliterary factors can affect book prizes, too, a subject Szetela mostly avoids. I could see a situation similar to Hough’s happening with with the larger NBA and NBCC awards, too.
In a way it surprises me that the author of any candidate for a literary prize would get into an online flap, for however noble a reason, such as defending a friend. From my perspective as a past NBCC awards vp: By far the best strategy for any possible contender for an award is to stay out of online controversies. They could come back to haunt you.
This is so fucking asinine. I am a 62 year old man who knew I was gay in middle school in 1975. I had no representation and figured things out on my own. Fiction is fiction. Authenticity isn’t the point…it’s made up! This reeks of how Soviet and Chinese artists were punished for being incorrect in representing their workers’ “paradise.”
That has not been my experience with sensitivity reads and I have had two. That said, both novels are self-published so there isn't the anxiety the publishers might have about offending people or getting review bombed for doing so. For me it's not so much about whether or not you said something racist on page 72. It's more having eyes on it from a person who has been in that milieu and knows the little extra things that make it more authentic. I found it a very enjoyable and interesting experience and was happy to incorporate the suggestions made. I felt it deepened the characters and made them more grounded.
Now I must read That Book Is Dangerous!!
I'm reading this book right now. It's something I spend a lot of time thinking about. There are real right-wing threats to books, real censorship.
But it's almost like that fact allows people on the left (including me) to ignore the trouble in our own backyard. It does seem like a lot of these controversies erupt online, which allows for people who've never even read a particular book to suddenly have a take so they can signal which side they are on. It's all about making sure they say the right thing at the right time, lest they be considered a traitor to the cause, whatever that cause may be.
I am specifically thinking of that weird thing that happened with Lauren Hough a couple of years ago when she tried to defend her friend's book before it was even available to read, and she got caught up in the crossfire and was removed from consideration for the Lambda literary award. And what she basically said was, hey guys, read the book first.
Oh, wow. I’d missed that Lauren Hough dustup and just looked it up. It’s a great example of a comment I made in passing at the end of this story: Extraliterary factors can affect book prizes, too, a subject Szetela mostly avoids. I could see a situation similar to Hough’s happening with with the larger NBA and NBCC awards, too.
In a way it surprises me that the author of any candidate for a literary prize would get into an online flap, for however noble a reason, such as defending a friend. From my perspective as a past NBCC awards vp: By far the best strategy for any possible contender for an award is to stay out of online controversies. They could come back to haunt you.
Is there a kind of "experience" different from "lived experience"?
"Unlived experience"? Like the undead?
Thanks, John. You and I think alike. That’s why I called out “lived experience” as a cliché.
Much more insidious!