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Read the novels and forget everything else

hedgehogreview.com

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Re: Read the novels and forget everything else

#21

Post by SanjayMehta »

DHPersonal wrote: post #19

I had a similar author shock when I learned James Herriot’s books were not the autobiographies I thought they were but instead were the fictionalized compilations of stories from multiple veterinarians. I had such a great time reading the books as a young man and was dismayed to learn they weren’t authentic. I appreciated learning the truth but wondered if perhaps believing the lie would’ve been better for something…

A practising vet introduced me to Herriot. He told me they were like PG Wodehouse but with animals.

Surely the enjoyment they provided was that counts: why stress out over "authenticity."

(Banksy comes to mind for some reason: he vandalises property over various causes and no one questions his authenticity. Does anyone think he's suffered like the caricatures he depicts?)

Re: Read the novels and forget everything else

#22

Post by DHPersonal »

SanjayMehta wrote: post #21
DHPersonal wrote: post #19

I had a similar author shock when I learned James Herriot’s books were not the autobiographies I thought they were but instead were the fictionalized compilations of stories from multiple veterinarians. I had such a great time reading the books as a young man and was dismayed to learn they weren’t authentic. I appreciated learning the truth but wondered if perhaps believing the lie would’ve been better for something…

A practising vet introduced me to Herriot. He told me they were like PG Wodehouse but with animals. Surely the enjoyment they provided was that counts: why stress out over "authenticity." (Banksy comes to mind for some reason: he vandalises property over various causes and no one questions his authenticity. Does anyone think he's suffered like the caricatures he depicts?)

I think they remain enjoyable even as fictional; I just would’ve preferred having them described that way to me at the start rather than the pretense of them being autobiographical.

Re: Read the novels and forget everything else

#23

Post by wombatpm »

dwd wrote: post #10
magarnicle wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the best heuristic for separating artist from their work is: How much does the artist try to put their own personality into it? Woody Allen films are very much soaked through with Woody Allen. I don't get the sense that O'Brian's books are to the same degree.

You have to question what of the person filtered through to their works. As a teen I voraciously read my way through the Belgariad, and later the Malloreon, Elenium and the Tamuli. Shocked to learn that Eddings and his wife were both convicted and jailed for child abuse prior to writing those novels.

I stopped after Malloreon more because my interests changed. Finding out their history hasn’t changed anything for me. But Marion Zimmerman Bradley for some reason has and I have no desire to read any of her books ever again.

Re: Read the novels and forget everything else

#24

Post by tclancy »

jvandonsel wrote: post #17

Despite reading the entire series twice, I never understood the porcupine line. Can someone ELI5?

It’s Jack talking through his hat again. I think he’s trying to determine if a woman is married or not and when it turns out they having a roving eye, he conflates “porcupine” (no idea what a porcupine-lay might be) with “concubine”.

Re: Read the novels and forget everything else

#25

Post by jay_kyburz »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #13
dwd wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to question what of the person filtered through to their works. As a teen I voraciously read my way through the Belgariad, and later the Malloreon, Elenium and the Tamuli. Shocked to learn that Eddings and his wife were both convicted and jailed for child abuse prior to writing those novels.

I still like those books, and, for some reason, that didn't affect me. Other people, however, have. Science fiction/fantasy has a long, turgid history of weird and unsavory authors. I tend to ignore that. I think books have a firewall between the author and the characters on the page. Actors, however, are a different matter. They are the medium.

I've always enjoyed H P Lovecraft and was disappointed to learn about his racism and xenophobia. AI tells me its was way beyond what was normal at the time.

Re: Read the novels and forget everything else

#26

Post by [deleted] »

ridgeguy wrote: post #18

Sometime in the mid-90s, after I'd read M&C and the two following books, I heard Patrick O’Brian interviewed on the radio as I was driving to work in Sunnyvale. The interview included about 20 minutes of his reading from M&C. After listening to him read for about 30 seconds, I pulled onto the shoulder of 101 around Ames lab, shut down my car and just listened to him. I'd never before heard someone give voice to the E…

[deleted]

Re: Read the novels and forget everything else

#27

Post by JoeDaDude »

nabbed wrote: post #14

>And then it all went bad. The Daily Telegraph, following up on biographical discrepancy in a BBC documentary, uncovered proof that Patrick O’Brian…was not Patrick O’Brian. About 15 years ago, I decided to know as little as possible about the musicians/artists/writers whose work I was consuming, because I didn't want my enjoyment of their work to be influenced or spoiled by what I knew about them (even superficial th…

The "human connection to the artist" is believed to be important by some, but I disagree. People tend to create an image of a musician and are too often disappointed because, for example, they disapprove of the musician's lifestyle (the expression sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll exists for a reason), or because of disagreement with the social or political causes the musicians support. Occasionally, fans follow an artist for their commitment to their art later to discover they sell out, like their style changes to pursue mass appeal, or they sell their work to become a jingle for sugar pops or similar.

I think it is best to appreciate an artist's creation and leave it at that. To quote a film, I think it is best to "separate the art from the artist".

Re: Read the novels and forget everything else

#30

Post by Nursie »

JoeDaDude wrote: post #27
nabbed wrote: post #14

>And then it all went bad. The Daily Telegraph, following up on biographical discrepancy in a BBC documentary, uncovered proof that Patrick O’Brian…was not Patrick O’Brian. About 15 years ago, I decided to know as little as possible about the musicians/artists/writers whose work I was consuming, because I didn't want my enjoyment of their work to be influenced or spoiled by what I knew about them (even superficial th…

The "human connection to the artist" is believed to be important by some, but I disagree. People tend to create an image of a musician and are too often disappointed because, for example, they disapprove of the musician's lifestyle (the expression sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll exists for a reason), or because of disagreement with the social or political causes the musicians support. Occasionally, fans follow an artist…

I don't, especially when the artist flows into the art.

Take H.P. Lovecraft. Very big name in supernatural horror, created Great Cthulu and various other tropes that survive and are influential to today. Famously misogynistic and racist. Particularly on the racism side it's not really even fair to say he was 'of his time', it seems to go beyond that.

And it's all there in the fiction. Fear of the other, racist tropes about clothing and appearance and mistrust of women. The works are pretty amazing, he spins an atmosphere so well. His ideas of horrors beyond time and space are well realised (with a lot of emphasis on what is not seen) and his dreamy fantasy sequences really work and draw me into a dreamlike state. But they're all run through with racist stereotypes about people (or demons) with darker skin or racialised features.

Does this mean no Cthulu for anyone? I don't believe that's a good answer either, but I also don't believe one should consume the art in ignorance.

(And I very much enjoyed reading Lovecraft Country a few years back)

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