Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
It's a slippery slope indeed to condemn earlier generations for not sharing the moral standards of today. What, I wonder, will people of the 22nd century think about us?
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Great examples about Dickens and Haggard Vs their times.
With commercial fiction you need to be careful to distinguish between the author and the characters. They may be writing to the market. It is not necessarily safe to assume the story reflects the author. Or, as Larry Niven and S.M. Stirling both separately said:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/892...se-who-mistake
“There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is ‘idiot’.”
We all bring our own point of view and backstory into our activities but when it comes to fiction, historical and modern, both, it is probably safer to take a step back and take the narrative on its own terms. Or just walk away.