It's just a phase

I was remiss in not linking the strenuous and gassy op-ed by Nick Chiles in yesterday's NYT about how the "African American Literature" section in his local Borders store is dominated by either "stories that glorify and glamorize black criminals" or "almost exclusively pornography for black women."

First, it's odd that he equates those two genres. No doubt they overlap in some cases, but they can't really be equal, can they? Even without having read any of the books he's talking about, I find it hard to believe that he thinks black women are buying all those thug books.

Secondly, judging from my experience working at a Borders for nine months in 2003 and 2004, I'd say his impression about the ratio between sex- and crime-oriented novels -- not always the same thing, as some are more or less novelized gangsta rap and others are erotic romances with black characters -- is correct. But don't take my word for it; go down to your local Borders and see for yourself. You'll see that the African American Literature section is fairly extensive -- usually larger than the lesbian-gay section, which is likely to be adjacent -- and that it is filled with the kinds of books Chiles describes.

What's interesting about these books is the generally poor and naive cover art that is the same ugly amatuerish kind of covers that were typical of lesbian-gay literature through the 1980s and early 1990s -- badly drawn illustrations that telegraph the content of the books, garish colors, poor design overall.

Go over to the lesbian-gay section and you'll see a few of these still, all from small publishers that lack either the resources or the taste to upgrade their look. But most of the queer lit now has a professional look. This suggests that the amateurish look of much of the black lit is just a phase publishers are going through.

More importantly, early queer lit was largely devoted to erotica as well, plus coming out stories -- the equivalent, perhaps, of the crime-oriented stories which perhaps seem, to the authors, to strongly characterize the African American community just as coming out stories were the meta-story of the queer community -- and I'll bet black lit will probably outgrow the gangsta stuff.

Other blogs commenting on the Chiles piece:
Booksquare ("This is how the fiction business works. All that stuff he thinks is bad is financing the titles he thinks are good.")
Lynne D. Johnson, whose blurb is on the cover of one of the books Chiles criticizes, "Legit Baller"
BlackFeminista ("I've long intuited a waning interest in black literature or any kind of black artistic expression that is outside of the ghetto stereotype. A racist media mega-machine has succesfully hijacked many black people's perceptions of themselves.")

Also read:
SF Chronicle article on self-publishing author Pamela M. Johnson
Christian Science Monitor article on "street lit"

Nick Chiles, Borders Books, African American Lit, queer lit