Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma

Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer (2023) The subject of this book—how do we deal with artists who do awful things—has been on all of our minds for a while now. Though, I suppose there are those who absolutely separate the art and the artist—and there are those who just say: “That guy’s dead to me, end of story.” But this book might soften either of those viewpoints—it’s not meant to convince us one way or another, but to deepen the dilemma, which I think is the best kind of argument. Among people discussed are: Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Michael Jackson, J. K. Rowling. Picasso, Hemingway, Nabokov, Doris Lessing, Joni Mitchell, Valerie Solanas, Sylvia Plath, Raymond Carver, Miles Davis, and don’t forget, Claire Dederer. The artists in question are just the tip of the iceberg, of course, but her examples are really extensive and varied and get into the various shades—the nature of the crime, the severity of the crime, the time period—and at the other end, what kind of art, and how deeply do you care about the art. I think we all find ourselves being hypocrites to some degree with this stuff. And at the heart of it is the art, which means the love of the art. She doesn’t forget that in the first place, there’s love. And as it turns out, there’s almost always a complication. Oh, and I also really liked her examples differentiating men and women “monsters” and what that means. The Nabokov and Ray Carver chapters were particularly interesting to me. The only sad thing is, this book could just keep going and going—besides a book, it could be some kind of an institute. More than usual, I found myself wishing a friend was reading this at the same time so we could discuss. Or better yet, I was in a reading group or “book club” and this was the book we were all getting together to talk about.

10.2.23