"Jazz" by Toni Morrison

 I just finished the novel "Jazz" by Toni Morrison, the Nobel Prize-winning Black American novelist who died in 2019. She viewed the book as one member of a trilogy that began with the much better known "Beloved," which was set in the age of slavery.  In contrast, "Jazz" is set in Harlem in the 1920s, but with flashbacks to very rural Virginia in earlier years.

Briefly, the story is something of a puzzle that, based on reviews and analysis, no one seems to know precisely what Morrison had in mind. In a nutshell, it may be that love based on shared endeavors is stronger than sexual attraction, but not without plenty of trauma along with way. This reminds me of a view expressed explicitly by Thomas Hardy at the end of "Far from the Madding Crowd."

But for students of fiction, the book is interesting in a couple of ways: first for the manner in which Morrison shifts almost stealthily the point of view (POV) around, from individual characters to that of an unnamed and possibly unreliable narrator, and back. Second, there are portions of the writing that are more music to the ear than information to the mind, Jazz-like riffs on the scene, I sometimes thought. These lyrical passages can be rewarding for a patient reader, but not so much for one who isn't. 

Other positives about the book are good character development and a colorful view of life in Harlem when many Blacks were getting along reasonably well one way or the other and enjoying the freedom and excitement of life in a big city. Various atrocities by Whites against Blacks are referenced, but so is color prejudice among Blacks, a theme Morrison touched upon again toward the end of her writing career. 

Black Writers Make Progress Despite "Systemic Racism"

 We've heard a lot in recent months about how the U.S. is fundamentally defined by "systemic racism" -- in other words, discrimination against non-white citizens, and especially Blacks, is baked in the cake because the country was established on that very basis despite certain idealistic postulates.

Thus, one branch of this theory goes, reform of existing institutions can't, by definition, produce equality and justice. Absent a major transfer of power, Blacks in particular can't get anywhere.

In the face of such arguments, I've been trying to see if there might be a counter-narrative, at least in the arts. Could it be that things aren't quite as bad as it is currently fashionable to depict them?

The Nov. 9, 2020, Arts section of the New York Times  has an item about a woman, who somewhat against the tide, writes short stories and is just having her second collection, "The Office of Historical Corrections" published. Replete with a photo of the author, Danielle Evans, the piece was awarded two thirds of a page.  Not bad publicity!

Ms Evans is Black and what interested me was what she had to say about that. In a nutshell, while there is still room for improvement on one front or another, a lot of progress has been made.

Asked how things have changed, Ms Evans had the following to say:

"I'm less afraid that I'll be the only Black writer that somebody reads or that there will be only one book by a writer of color each season that people are talking about. It's much more true now that you'll hear, 'Here are eight books by Black writers. Let's think about what they are saying to each other.'"

While that's good news for those unwilling to throw out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to making America a better society, it's also good news for Ms Evans as a writer. It gives her, she said, more freedom to write about riskier, weirder material because she doesn't have to worry about being taken as representative of her race.

Where is change still needed?  In Evans view, white writers need to talk more about race and Black writers should be asked to review books written by whites, in part to point out what's missing there. 

"People of color notice absences, we notice the treatment of secondary characters, where the language gets weird. And that's useful for everybody."

There was a time -- well, it seems very naive now -- when the notion of where thing ought to go was "integration." The concept was that if discriminatory barriers could be broken down, we could all be the same despite differing skin colors, religions, whatever. Well, not anymore. Racial differences need to be noted, acknowledged in a positive fashion, explored, understood and valued.

Here's Evan's take on that when it comes to literature:

"We should be talking about race more as a function of craft -- of everybody's craft. Maybe it shouldn't be the first paragraph of every review, but it should be noted that books have a racial context. Conversations would be more interesting for it. Part of the answer is making that conversation more visible in more places, so it doesn't feel hyper-visible  when it's focused on the work of Black writers."

Moving away from race and onto the state of literary fiction, Evans believes it has a future despite many claims to the contrary.

"If I put the right story in someone's hands, it can change their life," she said. In that context, she pointed in particular to Toni Morrison's 1992 novel "Jazz."

 

Color Prejudice Can Be As Strong as That Based on Race

When I started writing this blog four years ago, my first post was about a short story in the New Yorker  by Toni Morrison called "Sweetness," which was actually the first chapter of a since-published novel called "God Help the Child."  Over the years, it has become one of my most-read posts and you can find it here.

In a nutshell, the story was about a light-skinned African-American woman who experiences a profound sense of prejudice against her much darker infant daughter.

I mention this because there was a report the other day that the African nation of Rwanda is moving to ban sin-bleaching agents, such as mercury, deemed to be harmful.  Skin-bleaching is a billion dollar industry in predominantly black countries, the article noted.

Why is that?

"In Rwanda and other countries, people use cosmetics to bleach their skin because they feel that lighter skin is the ideal or indicates higher social status. Dark-skinned people do not necessarily see people like them in billboards, movies and advertisements, and dark-skinned celebrities sometimes grow more popular after bleaching their skin. This all makes it easier to believe that darker skin is of lesser value or is not considered as beautiful," the article said.

Those interested can read the New York Times story from which that quote is taken or watch a video on the topic that appeared in the Washington Post.

Does Anything Pack More Clout in Publishing Than a Blurb?

"Powerful ... A tale that is as forceful as it is affecting, as fierce as it is resonant." -- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times.

"Unflinching, gorgeously written."  -- San Francisco Chronicle.

Those are known as blurbs, or "short descriptions of a book, movie, or other product written for promotional purposes and appearing on the cover of a book or in an advertisement."

When it comes not just to attracting purchasers, but also to getting a book through the conventional publishing mill, nothing is more important than blurbs, it seems.

"Sweetness," by Toni Morrison

The "New Yorker" published an interesting short story by Toni Morrison in its Feb. 9, 2015 edition -- a story that, while easily standing on its own, may be the first few pages of her new novel "God Help the Child," which is due for release in April. The story is called "Sweetness" and like a lot of good fiction, it is both well written and operates on more than one level.

 

There have been numerous calls for a fresh dialog on race in America in the wake of the Trayvon Martin, Ferguson and Eric Garner affairs and on one level, "Sweetness" could be viewed as part of the conversation. Color-based prejudice is not just a black and white problem, but appears to be deeply ingrained in human nature. Is that one reason the laws and regulations implemented, not always properly, in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement appear to have failed in certain important respects?  How then best to address the issue?