美国国家公共电台 NPR Kirkus Changes Review After 'American Heart' Draws Outrage As 'White Savior Narrative'

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Navigating¹ the world of young adult literature is becoming a fraught² adventure. The latest skirmish started when critics of the yet to be published novel "American Heart" took to Twitter to denounce the book for cultural insensitivity. And then, the influential³ Kirkus Reviews got involved. NPR's Lynn Neary has the story.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE⁴: When Laura Moriarty got a starred review in Kirkus for her novel "American Heart," she was happy a critic liked her work and pleased because a good review in Kirkus can help sell books. So when Kirkus later changed the review and, in a rare move, took away her star, Moriarty says...

LAURA MORIARTY: I was stunned⁵. I couldn't believe it happened. I'd never heard of a reviewer doing that.

NEARY: Kirkus' decision to remove the star came after the Twitterverse and Good Reads website exploded with sometimes vitriolic⁶ anger at Moriarty's book. The novel is set in a future where Muslims are sent to detention⁷ camps in Nevada. In a deliberate homage⁸ to Huckleberry Finn, Moriarty's narrator is a 15-year-old white girl who has to overcome her own prejudice to help a Muslim woman named Sadaf escape. Moriarty's critics said she had created an offensive white savior narrative⁹.

MORIARTY: That's why I lost the star. And I want to mention what's obvious here is if I would've written Sadaf's voice, I would've been protested for that. I mean, I'm sure of it. I would've been appropriating a Muslim voice. And so there's really no way to win here. And so what they're telling me is you are not allowed to write the story.

NEARY: Moriarty believes there is no question that Kirkus caved in to the critics. Kirkus Editor-in-Chief Clayton Smith says that's not the case but acknowledges he was aware of the online furor¹⁰.

CLAYTON SMITH: We were listening to what was going on. And when something is brought to your attention, you have an obligation as a journalist to pay attention to that.

NEARY: All Kirkus reviewers are anonymous¹¹. But Smith says a Muslim woman with expertise¹² in young adult fiction was assigned to the book and agreed to take a second look at her own review.

SMITH: She rewrote the review. And when she brought up this deeper context that the novel is told exclusively through the filter of a white protagonist¹³ about a Muslim character, we added that to the review and we removed the star and published this revised review.

NEARY: Smith stands by his decision, though he says it has not satisfied the critics of the book or of the original Kirkus review. And he's frustrated¹⁴ that some of these critics have not even read the book.

SMITH: You sort of want to raise up your hand and say, well, wait a second (laughter).

NEARY: Go read the book?

SMITH: Go read the book (laughter).

NEARY: YA novelist Justina Ireland has read "American Heart."

JUSTINA IRELAND: It's just a bad book.

NEARY: Ireland is concerned that as publishing attempts to diversify¹⁵ books for kids and young adults, it is ignoring the very people who should be at the center of that effort.

IRELAND: People of color are tired. I think people of marginalized backgrounds are just tired of having our stories told in such a poor manner and then people getting mad when we critique it. I don't think white writers know what they're signing up for because, I'll tell you what, it's hard enough to tell our own stories having lived with those experiences, you know, it's exhausting to be told - you're important; your voice matters - and then be discredited¹⁶ at every single turn.

NEARY: Laura Moriarty says the takeaway for white writers is don't even try to write about people who are different from you.

MORIARTY: Well, that's exactly the environment that is being created right now. And Kirkus just really, really pushed things even farther in that direction.

NEARY: But says Justina Ireland, if you really wanted to write about a diverse world, you need to be in it for the long haul.

IRELAND: If your good intentions fall short of the reality the first time and that just kind of puts you off the sauce, then why were you here in the first place? I mean, if I'm trying to run a marathon, I'm not going to stop because I had one bad run day. It's a lifetime.

NEARY: And when asked if white writers should just not write about people of color, Ireland says, I would love it if they got it right for a change.

Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

1 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

2 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

3 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

6 vitriolic   

adj.硫酸的，尖刻的

参考例句：

• The newspaper launched a vitriolic attack on the president.这家报纸对总统发起了一场恶意的攻击。
• Vitriolic impurity is contained normally in the sewage that vitriolic factory discharges.硫酸厂排放的污水中通常含有硫酸杂质。

7 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

8 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

9 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

10 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。

11 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

12 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

13 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

14 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 diversify   

v.（使）不同，（使）变得多样化

参考例句：

• Our company is trying to diversify.我们公司正力图往多样化方面发展。
• Hills and woods diversify the landscape.山陵和树木点缀景色。

16 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。