Art for Art’s Sake

Oh, my. Apparently, we white honkies cannot write about black people in our stories.

Bestseller Anthony Horowitz was “warned off” including a black character in his new book after being told by an editor it would be “inappropriate”.

Horowitz, best known for his Alex Rider series of novels, said he found it “disturbing” that he was being advised against a white writer creating a black character.

He told the Mail on Sunday: “This is maybe dangerous territory but there is a chain of thought in America that it is inappropriate for white writers to try and create black characters.

“That it is actually not our experience and therefore to do so is, by its very nature, artificial and possibly patronising.

“Therefore I was warned off doing it. Which was, I thought, disturbing and upsetting.”

Truly, the world is going mad. There is no such thing as cultural appropriation. It’s risible bollocks. It’s also a bit of a bummer for Morning Cloud, too.

Nah, I’ll continue to write about her whenever I see fit. Indeed, I have another story in line for the Halloween anthology. Fuck ’em!

10 Comments

  1. So, working on the thesis that a white person can’t write about a black person (or indeed any other type of person, except whites), can we reasonably expect the reverse to be true?

    . . . or do the words “only whites are racist” rear their ugly heads?

    Cynical? Moi?

    You f*ckin’ betcha

  2. Once again that weasel word “inappropriate” lobbed on like a dogturd. Horowitz should tell the editor to do one as it’s his work that pays his wages, that or find another editor/publisher.

    • Do keep up at the back there…

      It’s both of course. If art is created by black people about black people then its diversity and therefore good and compulsory. If it is about black people by white people than it’s cultural appropriation and racism, therefore it’s bad and forbidden. Obvious when you think about it.

      My Morning Cloud stories are about a half Native American. As I’ve not been there myself, I cannot understand; therefore it’s cultural appropriation and racist. Therefore, it’s bad. That I’ve never been a gunslinger and never been to the old west is neither here nor there…

      Ahem!

  3. So, I guess Othello will have to be played only by white guys now? Is it still OK for them to b***k up first?.

    • Shakespeare is a dead white man, therefore bad. On the other hand, Lemn Sissay is black, so therefore good. If you read any of his drivel, you might think differently, but that would mean you are a racist.

  4. Writing about people who are not exactly like you? Isn’t that what Imagination’s for? I hope Horowitz is taking no notice whatsoever.

  5. Men writing about women. Women writing about men. Don’t know what the world is coming to.

    Mark my words, there’ll be people putting words in animal’s mouths next.

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