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Should we still teach a beautiful novel by a racist author?

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Abstract

This article is about a beautiful book by a not so beautiful (racist, in fact) author, Forrest Carter’s The Education of Little Tree (1976). I will first reflect on the usually fraught (and sometimes cosy) relationship of literature and morality. I then will give a flavor of the moral fiber of Carter’s novel and then turn to some darker undercurrents, examining whether they intersect with the value of the work, whether we need them to intersect, and whether they ultimately submerge any initial judgments of the book. The core issue is how and whether to continue to teach such works as worthy and beautiful literature despite deeply disturbing facts about the authors of such works. Finally, as we often have personal connections to our favorite books, how should such connections factor in while choosing whether to teach such works even if now aware of their problematic legacies?

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Notes

  1. See also (Carter 1991; Teacher 1992).

  2. (Johnson 2009).

  3. See, for example, (Eagleton 2014; Watson 2014).

  4. (Oz 2005). Steven Pinker makes a similar argument for what he calls the ‘Humanitarian Revolution’ in (Pinker 2011). In the context of pedagogy, see for example, (Epstein 1986; Matsumura et al. 1996). Throughout 2013 and 2014, the issue was particularly live in various mainstream periodicals and newspapers. See, for example, (Moya 2014; Currie 2013; Paul 2013; Prior 2013). For helpful anthologies and essays on morality and literature, see (George 2005; Pojman and Vaughn 2013; Cohen 2009).

  5. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013).

  6. (Weil 1977).

  7. See, for example, (Langer 2006; Ozick 2006; Suleiman 2006).

  8. The field of testimony studies owes much to (Felman and Laub 1992). See also (Young 1990; Langer 1991; Caruth 1996; Cubilié 2005; Waxman 2006; Wieviorka 2006; Goldenberg and Millen 2007; Stover 2007; Matthäus 2009; Crownshaw et al. 2010; Glowacka 2012; Admirand 2012; Rowland and Kirby 2014; Shenker 2015).

  9. See, for example, (Alexander 2012; Goffman 2014; Duck 2015; Stevenson 2014; Coates 2015; Desmond 2016).

  10. Little Tree remarks that: ‘Granpa was half Scot, but he thought Indian’ (Carter 1993).

  11. I want to thank my colleague Kit Fryatt in the School of English at DCU who cautioned me against the notion of the ‘wise, noble Savage’ motif that is in itself also a racist trope. She also helpfully pointed me to the work of T.H. White and Gavin Maxwell.

  12. (Linderman 2003). See also the story of the great Chief of the Crow nation, Plenty Coup (also told to Lindeman) in (Linderman 2002) and his analysis of what Jonathan Lear calls Plenty-Coup’s ‘radical hope’ in (Lear 2006).

  13. The best portrait of such groups remains (Agee 2001); but see also (Isenberg 2016; Vance 2016) in ‘The Original Underclass: Waste People. Rubbish. Clay-eaters. Hillbillies. Reckoning with the long, bleak history of the country’s white poor.’ The Atlantic. 90–102. September 2016 issue.

  14. The literature is vast, but see for example, (Johnson 1992; Isherwood and McEwan 2016; McPhillips and Isherwood 2016; Pui-Lan 2010; Briggs and Fulkerson 2014) On (Paul 1997).

  15. In the context of the Shoah, see, for example, (Delbo 1995) and for a reflection of the so-called Muselmann, see (Agamben 2008) and especially his inclusion of testimonies from those identified as ‘former’ Muselmann, 166–171. For the problems of using the term Muselmann, see Hussein Rashid’s review of (Hussein 2014).

  16. (Blumberg and Richman 2014).

  17. Beacon Press, 2015, 1.

  18. (Ford 2003).

  19. See (Tóibín 2013). For a sympathetic account of Catherine Hogarth, see (Nayder 2012).

  20. See, for example, (Patterson 1997; Sherratt 2013).

  21. See (Myers 2010).

  22. See, for example, (Cook 2008; Cunningham 2015).

  23. (New York: Random House, 1990).

  24. (Clayton 1986).

  25. (Gates 1991).

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  1. Dublin City University, DCU All Hallows Campus, Senior House S106, Drumcondra, Dublin, 9 D09N920, Ireland

    Peter Admirand

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Admirand, P. Should we still teach a beautiful novel by a racist author?. International Journal of Ethics Education 3, 75–88 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-017-0042-2

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