I was scrolling through the conversation posted earlier here about retiring books from your own collection and a few people mentioned getting rid of Harry Potter books due to Rowling’s views. Do people also get rid of books by other controversial authors or is this phenomenon related to popular modern authors only?
My shelves are filled with authors that have questionable views. I own some books by Marquis de Sade and Yukio Mishima and those authors are extremely controversial. I own a copy of Being and Time and Heidegger is associated with Anti-Semitism and Nazism. Agatha Christie’s novels are filled with casual orientalism and racism, and Houellebecq is criticized for being a sexist Islamophobe whose stories have far-right extremist views. My shelves are filled with pessimists and misanthropists and I’m quite sure many of them would share Rowling’s views on transgender issues, but I have no plans to get rid of those books.
I understand why someone no longer wants to read Rowling and essentially cancels her, but at the same time I wonder if cancelling authors is any different from banning books. Should we stop reading books because their authors were not good people or is there a difference between deceased authors and modern authors who are alive to profit from booksales? Do you separate the book from the writer or is the author’s personal life relevant to you?
by Pettysouls
3 Comments
I’ve always been on the “seperate the art form the artist”, but the great thing is we are all free to hike our own hike; my shelves would have a lot more space if I went through them and started culling books because of their authors.
The context of time and the dead authors not benefitting from my reading their books makes a difference.
I’ll read who I want even if I disagree with their views.