海角大神

It was supposed to be the book launch of every author鈥檚 dream: Jeanine Cummins had scored a rare publishing industry trifecta. She sold 鈥淎merican Dirt鈥� for seven figures. A Hollywood studio bought the film rights. Oprah Winfrey anointed it her Book Club pick.

Yesterday, Ms. Cummins鈥� publisher canceled her tour and issued a public apology amid a firestorm of accusations of cultural appropriation and stereotyping.

It鈥檚 a pattern familiar to writers of young adult, science fiction, and other genre fiction. But 鈥淎merican Dirt,鈥� industry observers say, is the most high-profile work of literary fiction bound up in a thorny question: Who gets to tell someone鈥檚 story?

Ms. Cummins herself acknowledged the debate in her afterword of her thriller about a Mexican mother and son escaping a drug lord by fleeing to the U.S. border. 鈥淎s a non-immigrant and non-Mexican, I had no business writing a book set almost entirely in Mexico, set entirely among immigrants,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淚 wished someone slightly browner than me would write it.鈥�

The furor over 鈥淎merican Dirt鈥� centers around a previously noncontroversial idea: authors using fiction to imagine lives other than their own. To some, the controversy represents identity politics run amok. To others, the dispute highlights a lack of diversity within the most prestigious echelons of the publishing industry. At the heart of the matter is a deeper question: How can fiction best engender empathy?

鈥淲hy it鈥檚 happening now is because it is related to the politics of identity and the feeling that certain groups in society haven鈥檛 had a sufficient voice and representation,鈥� says Ian Buruma, former editor of The New York Review of Books. 鈥淏ut when it starts relating to fiction or drama or film, it seems to me a very doubtful discourse because, first of all, if every writer could only write about characters like themselves that would become a very narrow exercise. And the whole point of writing, especially of fiction, is that you can get into the heads of people who are not like yourself.鈥�

The caveat is that authors should strive for verisimilitude. Ms. Cummins has claimed she was 鈥渃areful and deliberate鈥� in her research and traveled extensively on both sides of the border. (Flatiron Books agreed to the Monitor鈥檚 request for an email interview with Ms. Cummins, but she hasn鈥檛 responded to the submitted questions.)

Yet Latino authors such as Myriam Gurba, Daniel Pe帽a, and David Bowles have rebuked Ms. Cummins for employing nonidiomatic Spanish phrases, homogenizing Mexicans鈥� regional cultures and geography, and lazily relying on stereotypical tropes such as setting the first scene at a quincea帽era. They fret that 鈥淎merican Dirt鈥� will leave readers with the impression that Mexico is a hellhole.

鈥淐ummins identified the gringo appetite for Mexican pain and found a way to exploit it,鈥� wrote Ms. Gurba (author of the memoir 鈥淢ean鈥�), whose caustic review notes that Ms. Cummins identified as white in a 2015 essay. In the run-up to the book鈥檚 publication, the author described herself as part Latino because her grandmother is from Puerto Rico. 鈥淐ritics have compared Cummins to Steinbeck, I think a more apt comparison is to Vanilla Ice,鈥� Ms. Gurba wrote.

By contrast, American writer Lionel Shriver (鈥淲e Need to Talk About Kevin鈥�) has long defended the idea that authors should be free to try on other hats. At the 2017 Brisbane Writer鈥檚 Festival in Australia, she underscored that point by donning a sombrero at the end of a speech.

鈥淲e all observe each other,鈥� says Ms. Shriver. 鈥淎nd part of self-examination is not always availing, is it? So sometimes others can see things about you that you can鈥檛. So I鈥檓 interested in the observations of people about groups to which they do not belong.鈥�

鈥淚f you鈥檙e a good fiction writer and a good observer of the world, there are no limits to what you can take on with enough empathy and research,鈥� says Ms. Shriver. 鈥淵ou own the whole world for as long as you are here. It is your backyard. It is your experience. And there is no hands off. And that鈥檚 for everyone, as well as artists. So you have a right to have an opinion about it, to experience it, to think about it, to talk about it.鈥�

Of late, several genre fiction authors have been called out for misrepresenting marginalized groups that they aren鈥檛 a part of. The civil war in the Romance Writers of America 鈥� which resulted in the resignations of multiple presidents, an entire board, and the cancellation of the 2020 convention 鈥� erupted in December after the RWA banned a Chinese American writer, Courtney Milan, for forcefully objecting on Twitter to how Kathryn Lynn Davis described Chinese characters in 鈥淪omewhere Lies the Moon鈥� (which was published in 1999).

In the world of young adult fantasy, Am茅lie Wen Zhao鈥檚 鈥淏lood Heir,鈥� Keira Drake鈥檚 鈥淭he Continent,鈥� Laura Moriarty鈥檚 鈥淎merican Heart,鈥� and Laurie Frost鈥檚 鈥淭he Black Witch鈥� were pilloried for alleged racist depictions of characters. Polite critiques on Twitter and Goodreads were about as rare as a starred review for a James Patterson thriller in Publishers Weekly. Consequently, several of those books were pulled prior to publication and revised.

Bestselling YA author Mr. Bowles (鈥淔eathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico鈥�) believes those protest campaigns resulted in more empathetic rewrites that were more mindful of the dignity of groups of people.

鈥淰ery few people are saying that people cannot write other people鈥檚 stories, but what they are saying is it is the height of privilege to believe that you are writing in a vacuum,鈥� says Mr. Bowles, who notes that relatively few books are subject to headline-making instances of blowback. 鈥淎ll of this hand-wringing about, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e trying to censor me,鈥� feels like more of a move by white hegemony 鈥� often an unconscious move, but a move nonetheless 鈥� to continue to marginalize the voices of color.鈥澛�

The limits of sensitivity readers

For its part, the publishing industry is very self-aware of its demographic makeup. Yesterday, Lee and Low Books released a survey that revealed that 76% of employees in the industry are white, 74% are women, 81% are straight, and 89% are non-disabled. In recent years, many publishing houses have striven to promote marginalized authors writing about marginalized characters with #ownvoices marketing campaigns.

The industry regularly employs sensitivity readers to vet books 鈥� particularly for children and young adults 鈥� for offensive material related to portrayals of race, nationality, gender, religion, sexuality, and ability. In her acknowledgments at the end of 鈥淎merican Dirt,鈥� Ms. Cummins thanks more than a dozen Latinos who read the manuscript, including scholars and people at various nonprofit institutions in Mexico.

Some are dubious that sensitivity readers can claim to fully represent a particular group. After all, people within different nationalities, races, classes, and genders aren鈥檛 homogenous.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e being explicitly asked to make normative judgments, ethical judgments, aesthetic judgments,鈥� says philosopher and science fiction author Craig Delancey (鈥淕ods of Earth鈥�). 鈥淚s the fact that this particular character is a criminal somehow now expressive of certain bigotries?鈥�

Their evaluations go beyond fact-checking 鈥� they鈥檙e subjective, says Mr. Delancey. Case in point: Clarkesworld magazine recently pulled the sci-fi short story 鈥淚 Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter鈥� 鈥� not exactly a common category of intersectionality 鈥� when some readers interpreted it as a transphobic allegory. The story had been vetted by sensitivity readers. And it was written by a trans woman.

Mr. Buruma, for one, believes that authors shouldn鈥檛 strive for sensitivity in an ideological sense of placating readers. After all, many works of literature, including 鈥淟ady Chatterley鈥檚 Lover,鈥� 鈥淯lysses,鈥� and 鈥淟ast Exit to Brooklyn鈥� have offended readers. Rather, authors should be sensitive to the behavior of their characters, who may well misbehave, as a way to understand the human heart.

鈥淔iction has an important role in making us understand not only ourselves better and how human behavior in general works 鈥� including our own 鈥� but where empathy comes in is that it allows us to get under the skin of people who are not like us,鈥� says Mr. Buruma, now a professor of human rights and journalism at Bard College in New York.

By her own account, that鈥檚 exactly what Ms. Cummins set out to accomplish with 鈥淎merican Dirt.鈥� She wrote that she wanted to remind readers that 鈥渢he people coming to our border are not one faceless brown mass but singular individuals.鈥�

A firestorm or a hiccup?

Some writers, including Ann Patchett and Lauren Groff, testify to being deeply moved by the story. 鈥淲hen I think of the migrants at the border, suffering and desperate, I think of Lydia and Luca,鈥� Ms. Groff wrote in a New York Times review, in which she also expressed anxiety over the fact that 鈥淎merican Dirt鈥� wasn鈥檛 written by a Mexican or a migrant.

Sandra Cisneros (鈥淭he House on Mango Street鈥�) remains a staunch defender of the book and believes it could reach audiences who wouldn鈥檛 pick up one of her books. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be [an audience] who maybe is undecided about issues at the border,鈥� Ms. Cisneros told NPR鈥檚 Maria Hinojosa. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be someone who wants to be entertained, and the story is going to enter like a Trojan horse and change minds. And it鈥檚 going to change the minds that, perhaps, I can鈥檛 change.鈥�

But for Daniel Pe帽a (鈥淏ang鈥�) the plot聽amounts to 鈥渓ab-created brown trauma built for the white gaze and white book clubs to give a textural experience to people who need to feel something to avoid doing anything and from the safety of their chair.鈥澛�

Yesterday, Flatiron publisher Bob Miller issued a public apology in which he wrote, 鈥淲e should never have claimed that it was a novel that defined the migrant experience.鈥� The publisher also canceled Ms. Cummins鈥� extensive book tour due to 鈥渟pecific threats to booksellers and the author.鈥� Ms. Winfrey now says she wants to host a 鈥渄eeper conversation鈥� about 鈥淎merican Dirt鈥� on her Apple+ TV show.

Flatiron promises a series of town hall meetings at a later point in which Ms. Cummins 鈥渨ill be joined by some of the groups who have raised objections to the book.鈥澛燤r. Miller added, 鈥淲e believe that this provides an opportunity to come together and unearth difficult truths to help us move forward as a community.鈥�

In an interview prior to Flatiron鈥檚 announcement, Mr. Bowles said he was encouraged by the publisher鈥檚 response to the Latino writers who鈥檇 raised objections about 鈥淎merican Dirt.鈥�

鈥淚 think the publishing industry is moving in the right direction,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 actually feel positive about the opportunities for writers of color in upcoming years. I think [the 鈥楢merican Dirt鈥� incident] is more of a hiccup along the way than an indication that we鈥檙e sliding back.鈥澛�