I found this thread thought-provoking:
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Authors in the past had less of this problem, I think. It was much more difficult to find out information on the personal lives of authors. Iāve recently learned that some of my favorite stories have been written by people who have done truly horrible things or held unconscionable beliefs. I havenāt yet finished processing how I feel about that. Part of me wants to separate the works from the person. Another part of me feels guilty for having supported that person.
I am much more comfortable with trying to separate the story, themes and ideas from the writer only because people are complicated and bad can come from good and good can come from bad. Part of the guilt I feel is that if I support the merits of the work, I will be accused of supporting everything about the author, good and bad. Iām not happy about that.
Twitter is scary, though. My impression is that there is a huge community who judges a book based upon what they know of an author without even reading the book necessarily. That makes no sense to me.
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Addition to the earlier thread:
Perhaps I am selfish and/or foolish, but I never think about the authorās life, unless it is a personal memoir where I am supposed to learn about them.
I feel that reading a characterās journey creates a personal story for me. My interpretation of thenes rests on my own applied knowledge abd experiences. This will be different from others, even the author. Phil Collins once said that his music is no longer his because it becomes personal for the listener. This is kinda how I feel about books.
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