Pounding OSC

[bardiphouka]

Where does one draw the line between writer and writing? A case in point would be Orson Scott Card. As a writer I have always found him a bit uneven. As a person I find many of his views,hmm..reprehensible to say the least. Sometimes those views seep into his writing and sometimes they are absent.

The question is though,do his personal views really matter from the reader's standpoint? Not from the subject matter of the book, for I would think the answer would be fairly obvious there. But rather from a more commercial standpoint. Should we buy books that support someone that we cannot tolerate from a personal stance?

I myself have to admit to being a bit vague. Two of my early hero-writers (Pound and Eliot) were neofascists and yet I was entranced by their writing at the time. Dylan Thomas was an alcoholic and a womaniser but his writing still holds up after half a century. So where do we draw the line? Do we draw the line?

But then I was never that good at drawing.

Comments

[dustyskinandall.livejournal.com]

I don't buy OSC's books. I read "Ender's Game" and really enjoyed it, but once I read something he wrote about his views (on Gay Marriage, I believe) I was so turned off by him that I couldn't divorce the writer from the writing.

I try to stay away from writers/actors/etc. whose views I cannot abide. The exception is if I am *given* a copy of a book/movie and told "you HAVE to read/see this!" by someone I trust.
There are some folks I just don't want to support with my cash.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm concerned I just don't want to give him any more of my money. It doesn't mean I won't re-read "Ender's Game," though.

[axiomi.livejournal.com]

It's odd but I believe that the world is filled with people and things I don't agree with,it doesn't make what they believe any less valid to them and it doesn't negate weather or not they have beauty to share in another field. I do however think that the opinion of the author or musician should be taken with several thousand grains of salt. Besides,who actually cares what they believe?