Paul Beatty webchat now ended
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Myam0t0 asks:
Beans on a fry up?
Guardian contributor Definitely beans on a fry up! That British import hasn't yet made its way to the States but it needs to happen.
People like Wynton Marsalis remind me of Trump: if they could, they'd wear hats saying: MAKE JAZZ GREAT AGAIN
flavadaveflynn asked:
Paul, why aren’t more people aware of the music of Lee Morgan?
machenbach added:
Helen Morgan didn’t help.
Guardian contributor That is pretty funny.
People like Wynton Marsalis remind me of Trump: if they could, they'd wear hats that read: MAKE JAZZ GREAT AGAIN. So many musicians that don't fit the current mainstream, academic, blue note, Lincoln Centre, jazz ideal get shunned as lesser than - people like Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Gigi Gryce and Charles Gayle. They are not as known as they should be.
Simon92 asks:
One of my favourite riffs in The Sellout comes from the first chapter – could you tell me a little bit about the Latin mottos Me constructs while he’s waiting for his hearing? Where did the inspiration for that sequence come from?
Guardian contributor That is one of my favourite parts of the book, actually. Just continuing the riff of mottos, the need to put mottos in Latin to give them more gravitas - I don't know why people do that. Showing the bridge between supposedly high- and low-brow cultures, the power of language and syntax and how we read that,
I didn't know about the 18 rejections until I won the Booker – some reporter asked me about it. But I am glad One World took the risk. I knew I had written a good book
MarlonBlade asks:
Considering you were knocked back 18 times, how did you know your book was any good? And now are you asked about your next book all the time when only a few months ago not many people were bothered?
Guardian contributor First, I didn't know about the 18 rejections until I won the Booker - some reporter asked me about it. But I am glad One World took the risk - hopefully they are too. I think I knew, even without all the acclaim, that I had written a good book.
I gave the book to one of my colleagues to ask him for a blurb, and it just hit me that I had written a good book. He was surprised and said 'Don't you think all your books are good?' But I don't say that about my writing very much, it was almost a Freudian slip.
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Puddlevillian asks:
So you haven’t been approached by Michael March, of the Prague writers festival? Maybe I should have a word with him?
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Dwayne01 asks:
Why are the page edges in The Sellout pink?
Guardian contributor From Margot, the publisher at One World: 'It is to match the jacket!'
It is not making a statement or anything, but maybe we can figure one out.
ID902953 asks:
Have the film rights to the The Sellout been optioned? Can you see it as a movie?
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markracz asks:
I’d be curious to hear more about how you build those exquisite stream-of-consciousness-like paragraphs in The Sellout. And have you been accused of causing more bad than good with regards to racial tensions in the US?
Guardian contributor The first part is just hard work. I don't think of it as stream-of-consciousness, but I know what you mean. It is just a matter of choosing the right words and it takes a long time. It took me about a year and a half just to start The Sellout.
I think the same applies to the structure - I don't really know how to talk about it! It is a matter of getting the page to match everything that is in my head. I think about the poet Robert Creeley, who spoke about form being an extension of content - or it could be vice versa? Sometimes you let what you are writing shape the structure, and sometimes the structure shapes what you write. They work in conjunction with each other.
It is also just about knowing what you want to say.
And thank you for the kind words.
thesellout asks:
Can people who are not of colour truly get the concept of structural racism in America? Can the American black experience be learned by non blacks through books or films?
Guardian contributor I don't know really. I think so, if I think about someone like Chomsky. I think he totally gets it. And people just don't want to hear it. I think people can get it. I think it is narrow minded to think people couldn't. I think sometimes it is a question of imagination, sensitivity and listening.
AmberCove asks:
Congratulations on The Sellout. You wrote it in such a unique and hilarious voice. I have struggled, however, to divine if there is a larger message in the book, and whether it’s a call for racial solidarity. Is there a larger message, or an endorsement of a particular point of view on how to deal with the ongoing societal issues surrounding race and disadvantage?
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jphi545 asks:
I saw you speak at the Auckland writers festival last month where you mentioned I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and compared it to another book which you gave to your students. Can you please tell me what the book was?
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womantrouble2010 asks:
Would you use a sensitivity reader before publication?
Guardian contributor No. I haven't heard of it but having got a brief explanation, absolutely not. Whoever is doing the hiring of sensitivity readers... there needs to be more sensitive hiring, not getting sensitivity readers. Not just racial or sexual orientation diversity or whatever, but people who have sensitivity, generally, toward points of view, perspectives, lifestyles that aren't their own. It is just so fucking stupid.
tontonzolamokouko asks:
If you could rewrite any of your books, what would you change?
Guardian contributor I'd be less guarded, maybe. Part of writing those previous books has worked to make me less guarded. I don't think that happens without making mistakes. One of the hard things about publishing these days is they don't give you room to fail.
I remember seeing a TV interview with Colson Whitehead where someone asked him what he was working on next. And he answered, 'I'm just looking for room to fail'. And I thought that was such a smart answer, because he's just asking for more space.
How come you give Eric Clapton such a hard time? As my case for the defence, I submit the original recordings of Crossroads and Layla, which surely amount to a bigger contribution to the world than Tom Cruise has made! With best wishes.
Guardian contributor I didn't give him a hard time! I just have a hard time who piggyback on people who are more talented than them.
John Stewart Watson asks:
Who would play Foy Cheshire in The Sellout movie? Incredible book so thank you for writing it.
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Jules9988 asks:
Could you tell me if the writers whom you most admire are the same as the ones whom you most enjoy? I loved The Sellout, and I tried to show paragraphs and discuss the premise with work colleagues who were slightly shocked. Have you had many comments from readers who found your book too challenging in its conceits?
Guardian contributor That's a good question. I think there are some authors who I admire their productivity, their ability to tell the reader how to read their books before they actually read them. The hustle of it all. But I don't necessarily love their work (or hate it either).
The writers whose work I admire I also tend to like - Fran Ross, Kawabata, Vonnegut... there are so many.
flavadaveflynn asks:
Paul, why aren’t more people aware of the music of Lee Morgan?
Guardian contributor Lee Morgan! Miles Davis just had better PR, he was more organised. There is a new Lee Morgan documentary that is supposed to be very good, but I haven't seen it yet. I need to see that. I love Lee Morgan. Glad to see I am not the only one - he is so good.
writeronthestorm asks:
How do you set yourself up for a writing session? Do you have a set schedule/target number of words? Do you have any special food or drink that helps? Do you listen to music?
Guardian contributor I just put my butt in the seat. No target, no schedule, no drinking.
I do occasionally listen to James Taylor when I start writing. I can't listen to anything with lyrics (except for James Taylor).
Richard Pryor was a huge influence on me, for his vulnerability and his honesty
Art Lewis asks:
Paul: You’ve written the funniest American novel since Catch-22 and Portnoy’s complaint. Your opening monologue has been compared to stand-up comics’ such as Chris Rock and Richard Pryor but it has much more literary fireworks, references and depth. Were any stand-up comics and comic novelists an influence?
Guardian contributor I would first say that I don't think it is anything like standup comedy. Second, I think a person who has been a huge influence on me as a person is Richard Pryor, for his vulnerability and his honesty. He was just so goddamn insightful and intelligent, beyond just being funny.
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MarlonBlade asks:
What’s your beef with Toni Morrison? Too depressing? Too bleak a world view of the black experience? Too overlapping with Ta-Nehisi Coates Afro-pessimism? Please explain.
Wedgwood MarlonBlade asks:
You also don’t seem keen on Angelou? Similar reasons? Too weepy?
Guardian contributor I have no beef with Toni Morrison, especially her early books - they meant a ton to me. I don't have any beef with her, or Angelou.
With Angelou, it was more about the need of the US school system to provide books about the black experience that weren't very bleak. Student are seeing a very thin slice of African American literature.
I think the word satire prevents us using words like trauma, pessimism, hopelessness. And it keeps us from discussing culpability
MarlonBlade asks:
I didn’t actually read [The Sellout] this as a satire as there were many stories in 2016 about the re-segregation of schools. Is the word satire used to make the content more palatable and keep the issues at arm’s length?
Guardian contributor I think a little bit, yes. That is the case. I think often satire is pointed at a specific topic or concept or construct. And I think if you asked what is the book satirising, each of them would have a different answer. And to me, that means the book isn't really satire.
And I think satire prevents people from using words like trauma, pessimism, hopelessness. And I think it also keeps us from discussing notions of culpability.
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Puddlevillian asks:
I was a year behind you in the writing program at Brooklyn College. I’d like to extend you an invitation to join me for a beer at the local brewery near my home of 20+ years in North Bohemia. You’d be welcome any time.
Guardian contributor I'm not sure if I'm coming to the Czech Republic anytime soon, but thanks!
I try to make sure the female characters have fun. Fun is a broad word, so that gives me a lot of leeway
LWedgwood asks:
Your heroines are always very cool. Who is your favourite? I was both thrilled and terrified during that bit where Betty and Veronica take Gunnar’s virginity in The White Boy Shuffle.
Guardian contributor I was a little nervous about those characterisations. I think the thing is I try to make sure the female characters have fun. Fun is a broad word, so that give me a lot of leeway. A lot of women have come up to me and responded very positively to Betty and Veronica.
I think some people feel nervous about women using certain language, but it is the difference between pornographic and being profane.
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LWedgwood asks:
Who, if anyone, do you like at the moment in hip-hop?
Guardian contributor I don't listen to hip-hop very much. I think the last song I liked was Post Malone's song White Iverson.
Paul Beatty is with us now!
Post your questions for Paul Beatty
It took 18 attempts before a publisher would brave publishing Paul Beatty’s fourth novel, The Sellout: a tale of black American identity with a main character called Me, who reintroduces segregation and takes on a slave. From the very first line – “This may be hard to believe, coming from a black man, but I’ve never stolen anything” – Beatty challenges more than just stereotypes.
When he became the first American author to win the Man Booker prize last year, Amanda Foreman – historian and chair of the 2016 judges – praised Beatty’s “savage wit of the kind I haven’t seen since Swift or Twain”.
New York-based but Los Angeles-born, Beatty is the author of three other novels – White Boy Shuffle, Tuff and Slumberland – as well as two poetry collections, Big Bank Take Little Bank and Joker, Joker, Deuce.
Beatty will join us live from 1.30pm BST on Tuesday 6 June. Post your questions in the comments below.
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Thank you everyone, so much. That was fun.