D-J:
I feel ya. BTW, I posted much of this message to
someone else who seemed to be saying the same thing. Anyway,
this response is most directed (in the spirit of dialogue) to
you:
As for Afircan American authenticity, I do not know
what that means. Neither does Bill Cosby or Michael Eric
Dyson. I do think the proper term is resonate. There is a
varied life experience among African Americans [BTW, that
half-middle class stat is incorrect, check the U.S. census],
nonetheless many common feelings, emotions and predicaments
resonate with Africans throughout the Diaspora. That was what
I referred to. Nonetheless, you're right, the intra-cultural
wrangling is necessary.
As for authors, check out Zane [The Heat Seekers],
Teri Woods [True to the Game],Tracy Brown [Chyna Black], or
Shannon Holmes [Never Go Home Again], to name a few. There
are more and more each week. Some of the best sell out of the
trunks of their cars or with vendors in the major
cities.
Also, I believe "street lit" is more than a passing
fad. It seems to be part of an evolution in African-American
literature. That means, as hip-hop music, the genre threatens
to go global and challenge the authenticity of the
"mainstream."
vincent f. a. golphin
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net wrote: Vincent wrote:
"Those factors seem to be the spur to increasing wave of
"street lit" authors. The emerging genre, which seems to gain
some respect now that white-owned publishers are picking up
some of the bestselling authors, seeks to make sense of black
ghetto life."
I've been wanting to check out some of this recent street
lit, but I wasn't sure where to start. Can you recommend some
titles and/or authors?
"The stories about drugs, prostitution, violence and prison
are an indication for a style of novel that is more authentic
to the African American mass culture, . . ."
However, I've got to quibble with this claim of authenticity
(even beyond my quibbles with the whole myth of
authenticity). While it may be "authentic" to some, even
many, African Americans, I find the idea that there is one
true African American experience very troublesome. When you
figure that at least half of African Americans are middle
class or higher, this concept starts to crumble. And you
don't have to look very hard to see the intra-race, often
inter-class, debate over African American culture, at least
as far back as the Harlem Renaissance. It recently made
headlines with Bill Cosby's remarks about poor Blacks, but
his remarks were part of a long tradition, in many ways
updating the WEB Dubois/George Washington Carver debate. For
most of its history, hip hop has been a focus of and platform
for this debate. And I wouldn't be surprised if street lit
prompts similar divides. I do know that the shortlived
Syndicate books, which planned to wrap hip hop soundtrack CDs
with the books, caused controversy, with some claiming it was
more glamorization of the street, while they countered it
would get kids interested in reading (gotta argue it's good
for you in Puritanical America -- just being entertaining
ain't good enough).
Mark
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
--------------------------------- YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
Visit your group "rara-avis-l" on the
web.
To unsubscribe from this group, send
an email to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject
to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
---------------------------------
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 01 Jul 2005 EDT