Publisher’s write-up:
‘What do we do with the art of monstrous men? Can we love the work of Roman Polanski and Michael Jackson, Hemingway and Picasso? Should we love it? Does genius deserve special dispensation? Is history an excuse? What makes women artists monstrous? And what should we do with beauty, and with our unruly feelings about it?
Claire Dederer explores these questions and our relationships with the artists whose behaviour disrupts our ability to apprehend the work on its own terms. She interrogates her own responses and her own behaviour, and she pushes the fan, and the reader, to do the same. Morally wise, deeply considered and sharply written, Monsters gets to the heart of one of our most pressing conversations.’
We have ongoing conversation about whether artists could be separated from their works and if not, should we feel guilty of enjoying artistic excellence from ‘Monsters’? This includes topics like whether we could enjoy the works of Polanski – who has fled the criminal justice system in the US for raping a minor; or could still take pleasure from reading the books of JK Rowling, who uses her large platform to spread vitriol against the transgender people, one of the most vulnerable groups throughout history. These are some of the questions that the writer Claire Dederer tries to answer in this book.
She takes up the case of several well-known personalities such as Woody Allen, Pablo Picasso, JK Rowling, Doris Lessing, Roman Polanski, etc. and discusses her own dilemma around enjoying some of their works. An idea she discussed was interesting, describing this as conflicting biographies, where in the internet age, we know the biographies of all the famous personalities whom we follow but at the same time, if this conflicts with our own biographies (the ethics and values that we hold), then we start to question ourselves.
This would fall under the category of a book that I wanted to like, considering this is an interesting and contemporary topic, given the nonsensical culture wars initiated by the right-wing ecosystem lately. However, this book lacked structure and often missed the point. She starts talking about Rowling and then digresses immediately somewhere else without having relevance to what was being discussed earlier.
I would raise something I felt personally here, she was saying how to classify a famous woman as a ‘monster’ had much lower standards, which usually involved abandoning their children for the sake of their career and she cited the example of Doris Lessing. I understand that this is a topic close to her, but personally I do not see Doris Lessing discussed as much as she claimed and indeed, a separation where she willingly left the children in the custody of her partner, there is nothing morally wrong in her actions.
I understand that she was giving her opinions – as is the purpose of this book but that is when I stopped understanding whether she was inviting a discussion into the subject or writing a diary on how she felt about these people during the various phases of her life. Considering this was like reading a diary, I hoped that she would eventually reveal how she personally chose to deal with the subject (while you or I may have our own views and approach) but she leaves that open ended as well.
On that note, I would conclude saying that this was a disappointing book given the high level of expectations that I had. I rate the book a three on ten.
Rating – 3/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
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