On "good" writing and cultural context
(Pictured: my beagle, Lady Bird, wearing a human coat. As far as I know, this picture is unrelated to this post.)
I increasingly see readers object when a reviewer is from a different background than the writer, say when a White reviewer complains they didn't understand a story from the perspective of a Chinese-American immigrant. And I agree, it's hard to grapple with the ideas of a piece if you have no experience with the life described.
This reminds me of one of my favorite Flannery O'Connor quotes to break out - "Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.”
I also remember reading somewhere that she knew of a professor from the U.S. North teaching "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and positing that the grandmother was a kind of archetypal witch, while the Southern students in the class were like, "But that's just what my grandma is like."
Both can be true, of course! And I think something interesting happens in the intersections at times, where a reader with one culture or experience might take something unexpected from a story written by someone with a different culture or experience. But if an editor or teacher or critic takes an interpretation of a piece based on a cultural misunderstanding and uses that to make authoritative statements about the piece...who does that benefit?
Authority figures in the writing world often say they want diverse authors, but it seems to me that they mostly want them on their terms. They often want the edges of the other culture/experience sanded off.
Not to mention the edges of one's personal eccentricity! But we'll get to that another time.
These differences, the places where we don't all match up, make art come alive...like when we read something that we simply couldn't have written ourselves. But you can't see the beauty of these differences if you have too firm an idea of what is good writing and what is bad writing, especially without exploring where you absorbed your ideas. How did your culture contribute to your idea of good writing, and what cultural expressions rub you the wrong way, and why? I think this is necessary ground to cover as anyone in a position of authority in the writing world.
I've had great experiences with editors and teachers from many different places, but I probably feel most easily understood by those from the U.S. South. Not only do they understand the characters I grew up around, but they're also familiar with the cadence and rhythm of the language. Without direct experience, I think the best asset is an open mind.
There are many obvious gaps that will be caused by different experiences with race, gender, sexuality, education, family, class, country, age, disability, and so forth. I just don't believe people who think there's a unifying principle of good writing that transcends all this. I think it very much depends on where you started, and therefore which direction you're pointing your ears.
Of course, some cultures and experiences are chronically underrepresented among gatekeepers, which means these voices are rarely heard. And lack of representation often leads to further lack of representation...gatekeepers don't want to accept other gatekeepers who don't play by the same rules. As we solve this problem, I think it’s important for us to open up our strict judgments as much as possible...to be open to someone else's unique approach. This is one of my many small arguments for moving in that direction.