I recently read the best-selling Yellowface, by R.F.Kuang, and have to say that I enjoyed it and found it extremely readable, but with my cynical hat on (the stylish one with the purple feather) I can’t help wondering whether it was constructed as the ultimate clickbait, not only for publishers and authors, but for all users of social media and especially for reviewers and influencers, and is a magical example of The Emperor’s New Clothes. On a whim I checked out some of the criticism and some of the previews it received, and some of the Goodreads comments, and found it highly amusing to discover repeated, quite serious and oblivious, examples of the types of behaviour parodied. Last night I watched American Fiction and I loved it, probably as a broader and less cliquey examination of a similar subject.
I did wonder how far pressed into cheeks the tongues were that talked about the selection of best-sellers being predetermined in Yellowface, and of the bitchy comments of the supporting in-house marketing team. In order to get that authentic voice, and appeal to those in the industry who love to recognise their own lives, how many of the insults and bitchy comments are just repackaged examples of actual conversations (not that anyone with any nouse would deliver them on an auditable and evidence-providing platform – maybe on the phone).
The author treads a very careful line in ambiguity over the reliability of her narrator, allowing a way into presenting discussions of ‘that which cannot be discussed’, without sparking a witch hunt. But this leads me onto the subject of today’s pondering how seriously we should take any voice or perspective, which claims ownership of a subject, language, or preservation of culture. Is there ever such a thing as sufficient authority and experience to become the definitive ‘voice’ on a subject, to the extent of having a justifiable claim to exclude others from speaking.
I make no claim to be any such voice, so I’ll leave you with that question. I don’t claim to have the answers. I just think we should always ask the questions.
Stay safe,
Kit x