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KNovels that criticize publishing that publishing loves
I'm thinking of recent novels like The Other Black Girl and Yellowface, which are supposedly brutal satires of publishing yet are beloved and promoted by that very industry. There's something off when the target of criticism revels in it too much. It likely means that either the criticism wasn't actually that harsh, or that the one making it isn't perceived to be a threat. Neither Zakiya Dalila Harris nor R.F. uang are outsiders. The industry loves them and they've been fast-tracked to success and at best, their critiques are either targeted at cartoonishly evil white people that no sane-minded white literary person would identify as, and at worst, their books are just intra-elite gossip that's not meant to overturn anything, but instead, shuffle around the pecking order a bit.
It's not like the industry doesn't know how to act in self-defense at perceived threats. Look at Alex Perez's interview in Hobart Pulp in 2022, or whenever NYC media obsesses over how icky the Dimes Square scene is.
All this goes to a broader question of whether anything that's actually critical of the status quo or establishment in any field can be produced by the targeted industry itself, or if you have to go to the genuine margins to find anything truthful?
I wrote more about it here, if people want to read more https://salieriredemption.substack.com/p/yellowface-saving.
I'm thinking of recent novels like The Other Black Girl and Yellowface, which are supposedly brutal satires of publishing yet are beloved and promoted by that very industry. There's something off when the target of criticism revels in it too much. It likely means that either the criticism wasn't actually that harsh, or that the one making it isn't perceived to be a threat. Neither Zakiya Dalila Harris nor R.F. uang are outsiders. The industry loves them and they've been fast-tracked to success and at best, their critiques are either targeted at cartoonishly evil white people that no sane-minded white literary person would identify as, and at worst, their books are just intra-elite gossip that's not meant to overturn anything, but instead, shuffle around the pecking order a bit.
It's not like the industry doesn't know how to act in self-defense at perceived threats. Look at Alex Perez's interview in Hobart Pulp in 2022, or whenever NYC media obsesses over how icky the Dimes Square scene is.
All this goes to a broader question of whether anything that's actually critical of the status quo or establishment in any field can be produced by the targeted industry itself, or if you have to go to the genuine margins to find anything truthful?
I wrote more about it here, if people want to read more https://salieriredemption.substack.com/p/yellowface-saving.
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