Talk:Teju Cole

This article looks like an advertisement for the author and needs to be rewritten in a more unbiased way. 96.231.154.140 (talk) 21:26, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Charlie Hebdo and PEN

The article previously described Cole as accusing Charlie Hebdo as being racist, based on a comparison with Rushdie. The original quote read "L’affaire Rushdie (for example) was a very different matter, as different as blasphemy is from racism." I think that the interpretation is reasonable, but as it is an interpretation, I'm uncomfortable with effectively going further than what was stated in the quote. Accordingly, I've removed the interpretation, but left in the quote, as that way the reader can come to their own understanding of what he meant. - Bilby (talk) 23:18, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

Controversies

Suggest renaming section - Cultural commentary. Cole is a cultural critic and provides commentary on many topics, including controversial ones. Although his views on Hebdo may be controversial to those who don't agree with them, writing an article about a controversial topic is not in and of itself a controversy. This section currently just provides links to articles that disagreed with Cole's position - the articles/videos themselves don't reference Cole or say that his opinion's were controversial. Such a sizeable controversies section relative to the rest of the article seems inappropriate, given the numerous ways Cole's work has been recognised, and his frequent cultural commentary in publications such as the New Yorker, NYT, Atlantic etc. The PEN award episode may be considered somewhat of a controversy, but again, just because Cole had a different opinion to other people on a controversial issue doesn't mean that Cole himself was controversial. Also the only person cited here as disagreeing with Cole and the other writer's position is Salman Rushdie, himself a highly controversial figure, who according to Cole's website said: "Teju Cole is among the most gifted writers of his generation”. A balanced article should probably include this too. (Cole and Rushdie also read shorts together in NYC in 2014.) Relative to the size of this controversy section the bibliography and awards sections seem relatively incomplete, for example missing a shortlisting for a PEN award, and there should definitely be mention in this article of Cole's Atlantic essay 'The White-Savior Industrial Complex' <ref>http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/<ref> which has created much discussion, including a response from Nicholas Kristof and several articles. As I'm new to this article, I will leave this suggestion up for a few days to allow anybody who wishes to discuss it some time to do so before I make the change. Happy to say that his views have been controversial, if references are provided stating as such, but suggest it should remain under Cultural Commentary section heading or similar. —InternetArchiveBot (Report bug)

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