Rather than writing a post about my feelings and this issue, I’m going to do something fairly educational. I’m going to recommend some books which I have taught over the years that are from authors whose background is not mine. Sometimes the authors handle the issues of racism seriously, and sometimes humorously. Occasionally they do both at the same time. All of the books I’m recommending are by authors from the ethnicity written about in the book.
Let’s start with Reservation Blues, one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. Reservation Blues focuses on the brief rise and fall of the rock band Coyote Springs, and features famous guitarist Robert Johnson, two dead US army generals, and life on the reservation. It’s a funny book and it’s a serious book, which is Alexie’s way. The book is a great study for fantacists as well as lit students.
More book recommendations follow.
A book that is brutal in its examination of racism is Richard Wright’s Native Son. The grain of institutionalized racism in the book causes a young black man to be uncertain in regard to interracial overtures. He murders a young white woman in panic, and the society of the time fans the flames of hate and stereotype. Wright is brutal as he holds society up to a naked bulb. This is a book that changes the lives of my students, because they find they examine their own ingrained beliefs and stereotypes.
Some people find The Joy Luck Club to be too chick-lit-y for consideration in literature, but Amy Tan’s story cycle about growing up as a female Chinese-American through the eyes of four mother-daughter pairs is a series of generational snapshots. The experiences are varied. Students usually find at least one character they can identify with, and they learn a lot about Chinese culture.
Isabel Allende’s The House of Spirits is a family saga, which spans generations and socio-economic classes in Allende’s native Chile. The different expectations and stereotypes of gender and social class are explored against a backdrop of revolution and upheaval.
Other books that you might consider to get you to look at a different perspective that I can recommend (that I’ve taught):
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred Year’s of Solitude (another good book for fantasy writers!)
Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy (a heavy read that deals with African female genital mutilation)
I’d love to hear what books you’ve read from authors who are from a different race than you. What impact did they have on you? How did they change you?
Some days more a teacher than others,
Catherine
