Can you enjoy the work of an author if s/he is a total jerk?

[kassielk]

I've honestly never been interested in an author's personal life. My only concern if I like someone's book is when are they going to write another.

[csimmons032]

To be honest, I don't really do a lot of research on the authors that I read. It just depends on how famous they are. I try not to read too much about the lives of authors because ther is no way to know for sure if it is the truth or just rumors. I really don't want anything to ruin my boo, and that is another reason I don't read about the author. I just care if it's a good story or not.

[tcronquist]

Even if I am not personally fond of the author if they are a great writer then yes I will still read their books. Whoever they are as a person doesn't change how their books affect me.

[Stevefromtheblock]

I think so. I think it's possible to separate the author from the work If he/she is a good writer and storyteller, I can enjoy it for what it is, regardless of what the author is like.

[Rabidwerewolfie]

I seem to be in the minority here.
Personally, I like to separate art from it's creator in that I accept or reject it on its own merits, not those of the person who made it. If an author writes great books but is sexist/racist/simply unpleasant to be around, as long as it doesn't bleed into the book itself, I just consider it to be their business and not my own. If the book itself promotes such unpleasant ideas then yes, the "jerkiness" of the author would ruin my enjoyment of a potentially good book.

[fitzml]

That's an excellent question (and your Homer example is a hoot!) I guess it would depend on how much I disagreed with whatever an author said or did. For instance, Ayn Rand is probably my favorite author, ever. When I started reading her non-fiction, philosophical work (like "The Virtue of Selfishness") I found it a bit off=putting because it seemed elitist and not terribly realistic in terms of how human nature operates. Then I read "My Years With Ayn Rand" by her long-time lover (she was married) and protégé, Nathaniel Brandon and hate to admit that I admired her somewhat less afterward (for reasons explained in the book). I've forgiven her since then for being human and fallible after all. But I still love her fictional works. Now, if she abused children or the elderly or tortured pets it would be a different matter.

Maybe I'm naïve enough to think that great writing comes from a special degree of insight and sensitivity to the human condition. So I think it's possible for someone to write something wonderful who has some personal issues.

I guess the only time I'd be totally turned off by an author is if s/he plagiarized someone else's work or if that person turned out to be a complete hypocrite.

-- 03 Apr 2015, 18:16 --

Someone brought up the issue of how famous an author is. I used to think I'd rather be an author than any other kind of creative-type because authors tend to be low key. The more visual artists - I guess because they're required to be in the public eye and, thus, are under scrutiny all the time - tend to be the ones who get reputations for acting out. So, I guess the less I know about an author the better. If s/he isn't out making a spectacle of her or himself, I don't care about their personal life.

[Jesska6029]

I try to put all I know about the author aside before I read his or her book. For example, I disagree with Orson Scott Card on a lot that he says, but I really, really like Ender's Game.

[allwritemel1967]

To be honest, the answer is yes (and that kind of surprised me). I interviewed an author (sadly I no longer have a copy of it because we closed our internet account - it was done via email - before I realised I hadn't copied it over). I interviewed her because I liked her ... but to say we didn't get along is putting it mildly. Fair enough, you can't like everyone - but I STILL read her books and always will do. I believe I was the exception to the rule as apparently she's nice to all her fans ... maybe she didn't like my interviewing style - it was for charity and I do have a different set of questions than most people). Regardless, I still love her books, although I will now (usually!) wait until they come out in paperback.

[zeldas_lullaby]

I've heard similar stories from people I know who do interviews via email, and the author ignores most of the question and takes forever to respond and offers a giveaway copy that never goes out in the mail, etc. I don't know what the deal with that is.

-- 11 Apr 2015, 15:07 --

You'd think they'd want happy readers.

[MissJane]

Most of the time, I don't really look up the authors much lol

[Nicolettebabycakes]

It depends on the author and what they've done to make me not like them. I don't really have an author I dislike,mainly because i only read their books.

[thatgoodKnight]

No. We had this discussion on a writing website I belong
to. Four hours after the thread opened, the debate had turned decidedly hostile.
I was down with the side that thought Johnny Depp should have major arteries lanced
and his body hung upside down until he bled out. We are a surly lot. How had Mr. Depp sinned?
He thinks what he does is "acting" and just wont go away. In reality, he had bought one of John Wayne Gacy's paintings from a group of opportunists whose rationale for selling them was to distribute the profits among the victim's family members. And they'd help themselves to a couple
of bucks for administering the show. Gacy, if you'll recall, was a serial killer whose victims were
pre-teen adolescents. His come on was his clown act, which he regularly performed in front birthday parties. The other side took the position that Gacy's art work didn't murder young boys.
His demons did. They began littering the thread with tomes that took thousands of words to say
what Elizabeth Barrett Brown said in a sentence. "I might not agree with what you said, but I'll
defend your right to say it."
When the Gacy Art Lollapalooza came to Las Vegas a woman who had gallery space at the Fashion Show Mall rented that space to the them. The show was closed down the first day it opened. About 60 Las Vegans, myself included, were there to protest this incredible affront to the victim's
families as well as the blight it would have caused our communities standards of decency. The owners of Fashion Show Mall were way ahead of us. They rescinded the woman's rental agreement and told her wasn't welcome at the FSM in any capacity. So the Gacy Show flopped
in Las Vegas.
I can't separate the various parts of a writers life. If he's arrogant, dishonest, racist whatever:
thats part of who he is. Ernest Hemingway was a terrible human being. He was everything I was
taught not to be. And he was actually arrogant about it . All his books were self-serving
autobiographies. The examples I've given are extreme. There's no doubt that my enthusiasm would lie elsewhere. But I always research an author Ive chosen to read.

[DAMorrison]

It would depend on what type of "jerk" they were. If I were horribly offended/put off by the opinion of an author whose work I enjoyed, I would likely do what a previous poster mentioned and only buy their works second hand.

[SarahS]

It definitely affects me somewhat, but as an admirer of literature sometimes you have to judge the text and not the author. It's almost like don't judge a book by its cover. Don't judge a book by its author. Whether or not the author is a wonderful person who frequently donates to charities or one that hates kittens isn't relevant to the actual story-line and shouldn't cloud the reader's view of the book that much. Although, the opposite sometimes helps me enjoy the book even more and feel more connected to the author. If the author, for instance, has a funny dedication or author's note, I feel like I know them more and am more likely to enjoy the book and connect with it. So, I guess it depends on how good the story is originally without any thought to what kind of person the author is. In most cases, it is probably better to separate the author from the story and just not know. Ignorance is bliss, right?

[MissMaro]

I have lost interest a bit in writers when I've found out they were abusive, for example, but I wouldn't necessarily lose interest in a writer who was a jerk. It depends on what kind of jerk they are. Some jerks are quite lovable. And if they are a "jerk" because they tell it like it is, I probably would enjoy reading their books.