by Tam Neville
Urban Fiction, or Street Lit, is about the streets and the people who live there. It’s about gangs, violence, guns, drugs, prostitution. A recent article in The Boston Globe describes the books this way: “Some of them detail the extravagant lifestyles of drug dealers. Others describe the bloody violence associated with the drug trade. The sex scenes in some of the novels are extremely explicit, and sex is often used as a form of power rather than an expression of love.”*
Young adults of color gobble up these stories. But some parents protest, not wanting their kids exposed to books with such explicit violent and sexual content. Others, such as Ms. Miller, a mother of four, says, “When people ask me, ‘How can you let your teenagers read that?’ I tell them ‘He lives it every day. This is cotton candy compared to what they hear out there. And it shows [my son] that there are consequences to living such a fast life.’”**
Librarians want urban fiction on their shelves because it brings in under-served teenage readers, many of whom have never voluntarily read a book. Many older ghetto dwellers and street people are devoted library-goers too, sometimes devouring a book a day. Other women wonder if they need or want to know more about the hell they’re living in. But other readers find the possibility of growth and change in the realistic pages of these novels. Amy Pattee, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at Simmons College, says “A lot of these books point out the ways in which the larger world is failing people who have incredible internal resources.”* As you can see, controversy swirls around this hot topic.
Urban fiction, written by authors such as Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim, has been around since the l970s. But recently a new wave of books has hit the streets (and libraries). In the beginning, because no one would publish their novels, these urban writers self-published and sold their books out of the trunks of their cars. In the Bronx and Harlem, where their titles first surfaced, they were so popular librarians came down to the street to buy them. Seeing the market potential, established presses like St. Martin’s Press, began to snap up the books, signing lucrative book-deals with their authors.
I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t think that this is a threatening topic, with the power to undermine the “good literature” we want our students to read. I am not advocating that we teach these books in our classes, but I am tempted to take one of the most popular titles, like The Coldest Winter Ever by activist and hip hop star, Sister Souljah, add it to my syllabus and see what happens. I imagine a discussion about what is and what isn’t “good literature” would be eye opening to both me and my students. But, never fear, I’m not going to give up Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, Rita Dove (to name a few) in favor of the now-fashionable urban fiction.
Last spring I was lucky enough to meet with Megan Sweeney, a visiting fellow at the Radcliff Institute of Harvard. She is currently working on a book called The Underground Book Railroad: Cultures of Reading in Women’s Prisons, which describes her experience of teaching incarcerated women in four prisons. What caught my attention was the fact that she let the women choose the books they wanted to read (with a few limitations set by the prisons). She did not impose from “on high” a list of “good books.” Her aim was to find out what books these women went to on their own. Many of the novels they choose were examples of urban fiction.
I admired her conviction but I was also shocked. As a facilitator in CLTL, I pride myself on the fact that I am exposing my probationer/students to the best in literature, books they wouldn’t come to on their own. Megan Sweeney chose to do the opposite. I look forward to reading her book to see what it tells me about the women I teach and the books they read. What is their reading culture? What will happen if I add some of these books to my syllabus? I also look forward to reading more “street lit” (which abounds in my local library) to see for myself what this phenomena is all about. Will I be able to overcome my prejudice?Should I? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode.
***
Sources:
*“The Real World,” Boston Globe, Nov. 3, 2008
**“From the Streets to the Libraries,” N.Y. Times, Oct. 23, 2008
Conversation with Megan Sweeney, May 6, 2008
http://www.radcliffe.edu/fellowships/fellows_2008msweeney.aspx
Tam Lin Neville is the author of the full-length book of poems, Journey Cake (BkMk Press, l998). Her poems and reviews have appeared in Harvard Review, Mademoiselle, American Poetry Review, Ironwood, and Threepenny Review. She is an editor of Off The Grid Press and works for Changing Lives Through Literature, an organization that teaches individuals on probation.
Yes, Tam, there is something important about this “urban literature,” I agree. It can stir a desire for reading, and at times seems to offer a voice more exciting than the voice of the gang leader out in the streets. And, as your post here suggests, it does challenge all of us to consider the validity of such categories as “high culture” and “popular culture.” I still like to believe though, as you do, that “deep reading” has significant merit, and that “good literature” leads us to that “deep reading.” Should I work quickly to overcome that prejudice? Maybe not.
I have mixed emotions on the subject. If given a choice I would pick one of the classics but sometime I think you can have a good discussion on just about anything. The literature is the tool to get the subject on the table. It is, at least to me, more enjoyable to read from one of the greats, but in the end I think it is the discussion that is important. I beleive a good facilitator could have just as good a discussion talking about a strip from one of the days comics. Tam, if you go ahead with your experiment I hope you share your impressions with us.
If we really believe that seeing oneself in literature is a powerful and transformative act, then surely urban fiction contains a much more accurate self-portrait for many participants than many of the “classics”.
There is a danger, however, in relying too heavily on this genre of literature for programs like Changing Lives Through Literature. We pride ourselves on giving everyone an equal voice around the table; consequently, we must choose works that enable all participants to come to the discussion as equals. Urban fiction and the lifestyles it depicts lends itself to the experiences of many offenders, but not necessarily the backgrounds of the facilitators, judges, and probation officers who also attend the sessions.
Choosing literature that approaches issues of violence, sexuality, race, etc. more broadly ensures that everyone—regardless of background—can relate to the reading. We value the “classics” because they permit these multiple interpretations and associations, but certainly there are contemporary and less well-known texts that do so as well.
I was first introduced to Urban Lit while strolling the aisles of Barnes and Noble last year. I did a double-take. The shelf was filled with various titles much like, Thugs Are for Fun. I was shocked but as this post states, young teens are reading them by the handful. Is it bad that teens are reading? Or anyone for that matter? I know we believe that the subject matter is a bit off-putting but it is these youth’s reality.
Classic literature offers us lessons through copious pages and down and dirty reading. These volumes, I assume, are much shorter but offer lessons and topics the reader can easily identify with. We all learn in different ways.
We are all different, yet all the same. Language is a barrier and a pathway. Both the ‘Classics’ and Urban Literature use language differently yet for the same reason. The barrier may not be able to be permeated by all but if Urban Literature has helped or changed one person’s mind, it has done its job.
I’m still thinking and in the next month or so I plan to delve more deeply into “street lit” and share my impressions. See if my prejudices light up or not. I also plan to ask my current CLTL class of women what their experience is with urban fiction and how they think it compares with “good literature.”
About “good literature” and “deep reading” — I do think there is something in the act of reading a book that takes more attention (what I would call deep reading, something you have to settle into), than a book like Thugs Are For Fun which I imagine I could speed through pretty quickly. Somehow the reading experience is different with these two and deep reading does, I think, carry you away to another place, takes you out of yourself and gives you perspective. Which is what we want for our students.
Jenni — I don’t quite agree with you about books (good literature) that enable all the participants to come to the table equally. True, if we read “street lit” the content would be out of range for most faciliators, POs and judges. But the reading level would be much closer to what my students are used to reading. In terms of reading skills, I think they would be more comfortable in class and might feel more “equal.”
I’m very curious to hear what my current class will have to say about urban fiction.
Tam N.
There are a number of psychologists world wide studying just what literary reading means, and their results are proving quite interesting. There are actual patterns of language use that stimulate the brain in compelling ways and this has been empirically proven using classic texts by Virginia Woolfe and George Elliot for example. The fact remains that “average readers” selected for psychological tests respond to passages from these classics differently than other works of fiction. They see them as more aesthetically pleasing and valuable.
Now, don’t get me wrong, participants in these exams weren’t criminal offenders, but this research argues that the longevity and popularity of some works of literature come from the authors’ abilities to construct beautiful language at the paragraph and sentence level. There is a host of research that backs this up. As Wayne says, it’s more enjoyable to read from the greats.
So, whether this genre does or doesn’t have a place in a CLTL classroom is besides the question. I think that any type of book that will get children interested in reading will have a profound and lasting positive impact.
Tam, thanks for these excellent resources!
Allan
Allan,
This is really interesting. Is there a way I could find these sources/studies on the Web?
As I’ve always felt, “deep reading” does do something to me physically — it’s not just a mental thing. I think, as you say, that my brain reacts differently to really good writing.
Tam
I am here at a forum newcomer. Until I read and deal with the forum.
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You have to understand that while some urban lit books may be glorifying the street culture, others are presenting it so that young people can see where it leads: to pain, jail, or worse. The book you chose, Thugs are for Fun, focuses around a main character who is struggling to find the light, rather than reveling in the darkness. Don’t be fooled by the title.
[...] post is the second in what’s to be a three-part series. In the first, “Street Lit: A Hot Topic,” I reported on what other readers and educators have said about the subject. Today, I plan to [...]
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