Cube Critics

The following is a transcription of the audio heard using the player above.MPR News producer Matt Alvarez enters. MPR News arts reporter Jacob Aloi: Matt Alvarez. Now take your time. MPR News arts editor Max Sparber: No hurry. Aloi: We’re just kind of chillin’.Sparber: Chillaxing.Aloi: I want to be so clear: Never say that again.So, Max Sparber, this week I saw “American Fiction” starring Jeffrey Wright. It’s actually based on a novel, which I did not know. It’s a meta-novel called “Erasure.” And it tells the story of a writer named Monk. He’s also a professor of mythology and writing. And basically, Monk cannot get published.He has had a career publishing retellings of Greek stories, but he hasn’t been published in the last couple of years. And the reason why is because he feels like he’s being pigeonholed as a Black writer. He feels like he’s being pushed to write stories about a very particular kind of experience in the Black community when he’s from an affluent Bostonian family. Right? He feels like he’s