'American Dirt' and the Debate Over Cultural Authenticity
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Jeanine Cummins' 'American Dirt' grew to some notoriety when Oprah selected it for her book club — a measure of success for any author. As Cummins is white, with no experience of the migrant nor Mexican diaspora, she was criticized for writing from the perspective of Mexicans and other Latin Americans. Critics argued that it was problematic to write outside these communities, potentially perpetuating stereotypes or inaccuracies. Part of me finds this a flawed argument. The very nature of fiction is to imagine the world through another's lens - the only question should be whether it's done well or not.
After all, Tolkien was never an elf or a hobbit.
That said, there's a broader context to these criticisms which are justified, which we'll explore later.
Some praised 'American Dirt' for illuminating the harrowing journey faced by migrants seeking sanctuary in America, a narrative that gives humanity and depth to often faceless individuals enduring immense suffering and danger. It is easy, after all, to judge others when we don't understand their stories. On this level, the book has value - having landed in Oprah's Book Club, it's bound to be widely read and challenges stereotypes about 'these' people.
Cummins’ storytelling certainly is compelling — it's the only novel I've devoured in a single day in a really long time. Each chapter ends on a cliffhanger, driving the reader onward just as Lydia, the protagonist, and her son Luca race across Mexico toward the safety of American 'dirt' after sixteen members of her family is massacred by a drug cartel. Luca, mature beyond his years, faces the ordeal with a resilience that is both heartbreaking and inspiring.
Lydia is not a victim (as white America might paint migrants) but a fierce survivor, making harrowing decisions to protect her child, including leaping onto moving trains from bridges and risking encounters with thieves, rapists, and worse - the cartel. The irony of her relationship - nearly an affair - with the cartel leader adds a layer of complexity. No one is who they seem, this seems to say. We cannot trust our judgement.
The writing captures the frantic energy of their journey with long, rolling sentences that mirror the dangerous, unstoppable momentum of the train that thunders northward.
Consider this passage:
"Ricardín knows he's going to drown, and he has the thought that it would be almost funny to drown in a flash flood in the desert, and then he realizes that he doesn't want his death to be funny, or even almost funny, so he focuses all his energy on his abdominal muscles, on bending himself in half, so the top part of his body comes up out of the water and once, twice, he reaches for his father's hands and misses..."
However, not everyone was enamored with Cummin's story or writing, or the princely advance she was given for writing it. Schmidt of HuffPost pointed out that 'American Dirt' borrows heavily from the works of Latino authors like Luis Alberto Urrea. How authentic and original is the book, he argues, if she almost steals the scenes that have been written before?
It is also criticized for factual inaccuracies and cultural misrepresentations, such as describing non-existent locations or making errors in language use that would be obvious to those familiar with Mexican culture. Critics argue that these mistakes make the book feel inauthentic, especially to readers who know Mexico well. It does make me wonder how accurate other books I've reaad are about different cultures - but if these books are saying important things, does it entirely matter? How truthful does fiction need to be to get a message across? Isn't it also up to the reader to go a little further, like I did, to find out about the subject matter? It's a little hard for me to swallow, as admittedly, I loved the story and feel a little chastised for not understanding that not everything in the novel was accurate.
But the controversy surrounding 'American Dirt' goes deeper than just literary criticism. As Schmidt and others note, Latino voices are underrepresented in the U.S. - they make up 20 percent of writers, so why weren't they given such an advance to write thier story? This disparity is industry-wide issue that exists not only in America, but in other nations where the stories of the marginalised are told by outsiders when they are not as qualified to tell the story. Now that's something I can get behind.
While I initially read the book without awareness of these broader issues, it's clear the controversy highlights the need for more diverse voices in publishing. It's not just about who tells the story, but ensuring that those with direct experience and understanding have the opportunity to do so, and are recognized for it.
With Love,
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