There is a section toward the end of Philip Roth’s “The Human Stain” where one of the book’s characters, Ernestine, confronts the author/narrator about her life and the life of her family, African-Americans from New Jersey. What follows from Ernestine/Roth seems to me – a white, non-American – a brilliant and powerful exposé of racism, past and present. It strikes a real chord, lays bare realities. My perspective may be that of a naïve outsider, but it feels like the kind of thing everyone should read.
At one point Ernestine/Roth focuses on ‘Black History Month’, one of those special constructs society creates as a kind of sop, a makeweight to recognise minorities or disadvantaged groups. We do it everywhere and all the time; they could be LBGT-related, or related to people in particular jobs, anything – I’ve seen ‘women in technology’ weeks…
Whilst on the one hand you could argue these are positive things, Ernestine and Roth are making the point that shouldn’t there just be ‘history’, and one version of history. What does the colour of anyone’s skin have to do with it? What happened, happened. How can there be a ‘black’ version of history? And isn’t this all so relevant these days – #blacklivesmatter…?
Before I started the book I puzzled over its title; but, of course, Roth has been clever here too. ‘The Human Stain’ is the stain in the pigment of the skin – and ‘the human stain’ is also how we behave because of it…
The book is a brilliant multi-faceted exploration of what it means to be black – or to choose not to be black…
Ian Gouge - Writer 