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Originally Posted by Elfwreck
I gave up buying Card's books after reading Yonmei's 5-part essay, Dissecting Orson Scott Card. A writer's personal failings may not be reflected in his art, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to give money to homophobic bigots even if I like their art. (And I started to question his art; his sex-phobic approach to storytelling was obvious once I got past the angst of the individual characters and looked at the societies in which they lived.)
I actively seek out info about authors whose works I love; if I think they're despicable people, I don't want to be supporting them. I don't feel better by keeping myself ignorant of people who are working to destroy families I care about.
I reconsidered the content of his books after reading Elaine Radford's essay, ender and hitler: sympathy for the superman (20 years later).
And I stopped reading him entirely, and stopped recommending his books, after running across John Kessel's Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality. I hit the realization that these are not ethics I want to support, don't want to expose my children to while they're young. Kessel points out, |
I've got to COMPLETELY DISAGREE with what you have to say here....the biggest point is that Ender was manipulated into doing what he did under the ruse of a "game". He didn't "believe" he did anything, in fact, after that ending, he went and retrieved the "queen" and spent the next few books trying to re-establish their colony.
And I've met Orson Scott Card on a number of occasions and he's got to be one of the kinder authors I've met, and very down to Earth. I was the last person in line for autographs, and we spent a good deal of time talking. Far away from despicable....very very far away.
I will say that I do see alot of religious overtones in some of his writing, if you read the Homecoming series (I did not finish the first one) you will find that it's a Sci-Fi re-telling of the Book of Moromon, which he openly admits.
I don't see any hidden agendas with his works, it's all black and white and in the open.