I have not read American Dirt and after reading a full essay on who has the right to write and review such a book, I am not sure if I belong to the in or out list. I am plenty brown so that might get me in but I have no credentials whatsoever to validate if the plight of Mexican migrants was done justice to in this telling of their story.
Following the same logic, I should have probably never read Premchand's Godaan. Other than being Indian, I did not have any business reading a story about matters I knew nothing about. The fact this story remains to this day among my favorite pieces of literature might be problematic too. The likes of me could be accused to fetishizing the suffering of peasants in rural India.
The world has become a strange place lately. Apparently, it is no longer okay to read or write about what you don't have direct experience with. Used to be that was entirely the point of literature. To give the reader a chance to explore worlds they would never otherwise see, vicariously experience lives they would never otherwise live. From all of that came the ability to understand and empathize with people and ideas that might have been alien.
Following the same logic, I should have probably never read Premchand's Godaan. Other than being Indian, I did not have any business reading a story about matters I knew nothing about. The fact this story remains to this day among my favorite pieces of literature might be problematic too. The likes of me could be accused to fetishizing the suffering of peasants in rural India.
The world has become a strange place lately. Apparently, it is no longer okay to read or write about what you don't have direct experience with. Used to be that was entirely the point of literature. To give the reader a chance to explore worlds they would never otherwise see, vicariously experience lives they would never otherwise live. From all of that came the ability to understand and empathize with people and ideas that might have been alien.
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