![]() And the bar slowly sort of lowers and lowers and lowers until you think it just can be good at all. Whether that lowers the bar or raises the bar for the book in some ways - it sort of does both in a peculiar way, in the sense that you don’t think it could possibly live up, that it is a hype job, that it was sort of an act of racial and class restitution to award these prizes to Toni Morrison, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Stephen Metcalf then adds his two cents: “It’s unclear when a book like this gets the kind of accolades and sort of wins the public prestige sweepstakes to the degree that this one has. For whatever reason, they always seem to bring the potato salad. Is Rolphe confessing here that she goes along with the crowd? At the risk of generalizing here, I’ve encountered this loudmouth type before at book clubs. Rolphe confesses later that she remembers liking the book when it first came out, but that she was caught “in a haze of my own political correctness.” Huh? One likes or dislikes Beloved based on one’s own literary sensibilities, not because a book is deemed Great or Correct or Because the Book is Written by a Token African-American Author. I think it’s more likely that Rolphe is full of shit and that she had not read Beloved before at all. There are also some strange phrases here (“overly contrived kind of political piece of propaganda”) completely incongruous with a critic who has previously read the book. Morrison has written “politically incorrect text.” (What does this mean exactly? That an African-American novelist has written a book? That the words are somehow lesser not because of narrative beefs or discordant aesthetic sensibilities, but because they chronicle African-American life?) She is surprised by “how good it is,” as if her Caucasian hands might be sullied by holding a book written by one of them uppity niggers and that African-American writers, as a matter of course, can’t write jack. But Rolphe’s preconceived notions not only reveal a profound ignorance, offering a perception on a book that she hasn’t yet read (reportedly for the second time), but a distressing backwards attitude completely at odds with any meaningful text analysis. These words come from Katie Rolphe, the only member of the trio who had read Beloved before. But when I actually read the book, I myself, alone in a room, without thinking about these things, I was surprised by how good it was and that there are certain things about it that I think are quite extraordinary.” (Emphasis added where speaker added emphasis in audio.) Especially with the Times voting it number one in the past twenty-five years, which I think is a dubious vote. And I actually thought that I’m going to hate this book, it’s sentimental, it’s going to be this overly contrived kind of political piece of propaganda - you know, with politically correct text. “I have to admit that I came to it after not having read it since it came out with enormous prejudice. After a rote plot summary that feels lifted from Cliff’s Notes, one of the participants says: ![]() I’ve listened to a portion of the podcast and I have to agree with Tayari. But instead of discussing the book’s literary qualities, they instead aired prejudicial grievances. ![]() Apparently, the commentators (led by Meghan O’Rourke) had a conversation about the book in a cafe. Tayari Jones takes umbrage with this Slate Audio Book Club podcast on Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Pat Robertson, Evil and Hateful Demagogue, Finally Drops Dead.How a Pathetic Cleveland Hipster Named Dan McLaughlin Got Me Banned on TikTok.The Laughter in Light/Crutches and Spice/mdg650hawk TikTok Drama Explained. ![]()
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