Literary times have changed

Re: The cultural appropriation debate.

On November 9, 1978 the Canadian literati gathered at St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto for a forum on book banning. Even then it was seen as a difficult topic, as moderator June Callwood said, but the main point of the evening was to oppose censorship and to say writers should be free to write what they want.

Margaret Laurence was there, reading from a banned book ( probably her own novel, The Diviners). William Hutt read excerpts from I, Claudius. Other wellknown books that had once been banned were also read from, such as Huckleberry Finn, which I fear might be banned again today because after all in it a white writer dared to write of a black slave.

How times have changed.

Sheldon Goldfarb, Vancouver

Surely the Prime Minister’s tattoo must now be con- sidered cultural appropriation.

David Rogers, Charlottetown.

Having read these precious ( or self- interested) accusations of “cultural appropriation,” it seems to me that these enlightened souls have not realized that there is no culture without appropriation.

Some individual, at some point in history, first told that story; sang that song; invented that dance; created that musical instrument; used that new word; wrote that poem; made that headdress or costume; explained their concept of God; etc. But then others in the village told that same story, or copied that same dance. And later on, the village over the next hill did the same. Eventually, all of this “appropriation” became part of the “culture.” By definition, a culture changes and expands (or doesn’t) over time.

These offended writers seem to think that a culture is not only frozen but that there is some limited set of persons allowed to adopt or utilize aspects of it. That is nonsense.

If the Scots all chose to put down their bagpipes tomorrow and took up the bouzouki i nstead, t hen bouzoukis would be part of Scottish culture several decades hence, regardless of the whinging of those like the offended members of the Writers Union.

Robert Armstrong, Toronto

If we don’t let someone assume another gender, we are yelled at. If we do let someone assume another culture, we are yelled at. Can someone please tell me what’s going on?

Rod Shaver, Toronto

Hal Niedzviecki’s idea that there should be an Appropriation Prize for cultural appropriation comes more than a century too l ate. That prize has already been awarded. Millions of people have long enjoyed The Jungle Book and other wonderful stories about India written by the Englishman, Rudyard Kipling, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

The universal appeal of the Mowgli stories for more than a hundred years should give pause to writers now fulminating over cultural appropriation. Should only Germans be allowed to interpret Beethoven, or only black Americans allowed to play jazz?

And since cultural appropriation flows both directions, should we now prevent indigenous Canadians from acting in Shakespeare’s plays like Macbeth or Antony and Cleopatra?

Peter G. Keith, Calgary