美国国家公共电台 NPR Barnes & Noble 'Diverse' Covers 'Get This Wrong,' Says Bl

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The publishing industry insists they're trying to answer the call for diversity when it comes to books, but this week, they fell short. Barnes and Noble had planned to sell a new range of books at their Fifth Avenue store that were being touted¹ for diversity - classics like "Frankenstein," "Romeo And Juliet" and "The Wizard Of Oz" - only the covers featured a range of brown-faced characters. So same authors, just different cover art - and this was supposed to celebrate Black History Month. So, of course, Twitter blew up because where are the black authors?

L.L. McKinney is a writer who reacted to this misstep. She joins us now from Kansas City, Mo. Welcome, L.L.

LL MCKINNEY: Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: So the strongest kind of criticism I saw of this was that it was essentially² literary blackface. Can you talk about what's behind that charge?

MCKINNEY: Well, essentially, it's still a story by a white author featuring a white character told via the white gaze, and none of this has changed within the context of the story itself. They're essentially just slapping a cover on it to, quote-unquote, "celebrate diversity." But a lot of us felt that you're just trying to cash in on the fact that it's Black History Month. And now all of a sudden, black faces and brown faces will sell books, which is - just maybe one, two years ago, people were saying in meetings, yeah, you can't put black people on covers. It's not going to sell the book.

CORNISH: And now it seems like they've had a change of heart, is what you're saying.

MCKINNEY: They've had a change of heart so long as they don't have to actually have any black content.

CORNISH: Barnes and Noble issued a statement on Twitter announcing their decision to suspend the Diverse Editions initiative. They said the covers are not a substitute for black voices or writers of color whose work and voices deserve to be heard. They also said that one of the goals for the initiative was to drive engagement with classic titles, and that is an idea you've embraced in some ways - right? - like the retelling of "Alice In Wonderland."

MCKINNEY: Yes. So these are stories that I grew up, you know, hearing and learning, and I've interpreted it. But that doesn't change the fact that the story itself - like, the one they're going to put on the shelf completely ignores my existence, the existence of other black and brown people. And some of those authors were very racist³, so it's just - it adds insult to injury that, you know, this author wouldn't dare include me in his story, but you're going to put me on the cover to sell books during Black History Month. OK.

CORNISH: When it comes to bookselling in particular, there's been a long ongoing⁴ debate - right? - about how and where books are placed that are authored by people of color, whether they get, quote-unquote, "kind of ghettoized" in one section or if putting them all in one section somehow helps them to be sold. What would have been a better way to celebrate Black History Month - right? - if a bookseller is going to do that that isn't just slapping brown faces on the stories of white authors?

MCKINNEY: I mean, feature black people. That's the beginning and end of it. If you're wanting to, you know, put a spin on classics, feature classics that are by black and brown authors.

CORNISH: Right.

MCKINNEY: You know...

CORNISH: Things that are, quote-unquote, "also in the canon..."

MCKINNEY: Exactly.

CORNISH: ...I guess would be a good term.

MCKINNEY: Like Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison - give their covers updates, and put them on your tables. Or if you want to do this thing, you know, where you connect to this idea of the classic canon, we are out there writing reimaginings and retellings and putting ourselves in the narrative⁵ of these stories like "Pride And Prejudice," like "Alice In Wonderland," like "Wizard Of Oz." We're doing that, so feature those books if that's the angle you want to go. There are so many ways to get this right. They had to look for a way to get this wrong.

CORNISH: That's L.L. McKinney. Her most recent book is "A Dream So Dark." Thank you so much for speaking with us.

MCKINNEY: Thanks for having me again.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILA BRAZILLIA SONG, "A ZED AND TWO L'S")

1 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。