Eddie H. makes some good points in his graphs.
"Nigger" means differently when a black man uses it on
another black man. When a black man uses it on a "white
dude," I suppose it's grudging acceptance or ultimate
putdown, depending on the tone and expression of the speaker.
Lot of what we've been dancing around recently has to do with
whether we're going to be offended by an author who uses the
words or seems to give out the attitude through his
characters.
The author doesn't matter so much to me. I enjoy or don't
enjoy the fiction, and don't usually give a damn about an
author until I've decided on his or her fiction. Then maybe
I'll read a biography.
Eddie's examples from Willeford seem to indicate we agree on
approach anyway. If characters or dialogue or action seem
overly formulated, or manufactured because they're repeated,
it is a shortcoming in the fiction. An author driven by
prejudice ends up producing second rate work, seems to
me.
Generalizing at 1 a.m.,
bill hagen
billha@ionet.net
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