November 11, 2015 - 15:56
"Were the conditions not present for establishing the habits of creativity [. . .]? or--as instanced over and over--other claims, other responsibilities so writing could not be first? (The writer of a class, sex, color still marginal in literature, and whose coming to written voice at all against complex odds is exhausting achievement.) It is an eloquent commentary that this one-book silence has been true of most black writers; only eleven in the hundred years since 1850 have published novels more than twice" (Olsen 9).
This quote, and others later in the piece addressing motherhood in particular, named for me a great issue in literature that I had never before truly considered--the luxury of writing. The time, the space, the frame of mind needed to do so, all markers of great privilege not afforded to groups too caught up in their constant battles to survive and thrive. It brings me back to a conversation we once had in Jody's class, on the authority of the book; Why do we put so much weight in the book? It, more than any other medium, it would seem, is a symbol of authority to us, and we begin to trust and respect public figures when they are able to organize their thoughts and convictions into a conventional book format that is published and widely distributed.
Who is remembered? Which stories, opinions, and emotions are approved, published, shared, believed in, and held on to over generations? Olsen argues that it is almost exclusively those who had the time to devote to writing in this way in the first place (and certainly not those who were disenfranchised from the beginning, never given the training to read or write at all). While cultural shifts allow for mass sharing of less conventional forms of expression (for example, Ted Talks or the sharing of poetry over the internet), there is still some reason why we continue to hang onto the book--and why should that be, considering that books were originally considered untrustworthy sources of information?
This is of course also tied to economic barriers--having time means having money, not needing to spend one's day working endless hours to survive. This vision is simply unachievable for so many, and yet it seems like a cycle that cannot be broken until systems of racism and classism are dealt with, and we begin to take away the authority of the book. I feel a call to value even more now the unconventional, self-published creative efforts of minority writers and poets who work outside of a system that values only those who already have time and money.