Quote:
Originally Posted by murraypaul
To be on topic:
I distinguish between problematic views in a book and problematic views held by an author.
Implicit racism/sexism/... within a work can be at a level where I am no longer comfortable reading it, at which point I won't, and probably wouldn't buy any more books by the author.
Views held privately by the author, but which don't come through in their works, aren't something it would occur to me to consider when thinking about reading a book.
I don't read up about authors, or research their opinions, because I don't really care about the author personally, just about the books they write.
I had an example within books, but now can't remember what it was, and don't want to call out an author if I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly.
An example from TV would be the series The Unit. The ideologies the writers seem to implicitly assume I would hold were so intrusive and unpleasant that I stopped watching the series. If the writers had held the same views, but not made them obvious in the show, I would never have known, and would have carried on watching.
|
I really enjoy the opposite examples, where the protagonist holds views I personally don't share, but are realistic considering the character's history and the book's setting and that's why they're there, not because the author thinks likewise. An excellent example is the Hope series by David Feintuch. The hero, Nicholas Seafort, has some not so pleasant beliefs and views, but they're entirely plausible in the series' universe and I don't think the author himself shared them. At least I didn't get that vibe from the books.