Do you care about a novelist's past?
I ask, because of the ongoing fuss in the media regarding actors deviant behaviour, and the subsequent blacklisting of their work.
Those mentioned in the media may be guilty of sexual misconduct, but a cause of concern is that none of the accused have been found guilty in a court of law.
I believe this media-frenzy is a beginning of a much wider scenario, which will creep through all parts of society.
A thought occurred to me regarding politics. The founding fathers of the American constitution were all slave owners. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington owned slaves. Are they to be condemned and struck from history?
With regard to literature, are we to disown novelists past and present who have dubious political associations, scandalous backgrounds, or separate them from their art and simply enjoy their brilliance.
Is it naive to expect an author to be sweetness and light? Writers are human. They are not perfect. Why should they be any different from anyone else in the street? They may be writing because of their past - because it has given them the background knowledge which feeds their work.
In the case of a film actor whose work we have enjoyed, that person was making those films in spite of being, and while they were being, an active sexual predator. We didn't know at the time, so we loved the films for themselves alone.
Knowing what we now know would perhaps put us off buying any more of that person's work, not wanting to add to their coffers; that doesn't mean their films are suddenly rubbish - it means our perception of where the films came from has changed. It means we've bought into a persona that turns out to be false, and we feel betrayed by them, not by their art.
The difference is that writers are rarely in the public eye. Do you know what all your favourite writers actually look like? Have you heard them speak? They are at a physical remove, unlike an actor whose face and voice is integral to the work that we have enjoyed. That remove may act as a cloak, or it may give us the ability to ignore what's revealed because their work gives us so much pleasure. Reading is such an intimate and private activity, after all.
Ultimately I think it would depend on how vile the past that was revealed: revulsion would put us off buying a person's work, however good it was.
Lorraine
Hi Adrian. I agree with Susan that their work should stand, as it is something separate from any dubious dealings they may have away from it. I may be a little shallow but I also think that the more scandalous and provocative a background is, the more people are likely to be interested.
Susan, I'm inclined to agree with you.