Warning, this story is really horrific and will be heartbreaking for any fans of his, but Neil Gaiman is a sadistic [not in the BDSM sense] sexual predator with a predilection for very young women.
Paywall bypass: https://archive.is/dfXCj
Warning, this story is really horrific and will be heartbreaking for any fans of his, but Neil Gaiman is a sadistic [not in the BDSM sense] sexual predator with a predilection for very young women.
Paywall bypass: https://archive.is/dfXCj
I have so many of this man’s books on my shelves, a few of them signed. I don’t know what to do with them. I don’t want to throw them away (yet), because the stories are wonderful and I’m still attached to those characters and worlds. but. I don’t to see his name anymore. on anything. I’ve turned them backwards, spine inward and placed others in the gap between other books and the back of the shelf. what a tragic loss caused by a Jekyll\Hyde monster.
Good Omens is one of my most favorite and re-read books and I don’t know how many decades it’ll take before I touch it again.
It can be hard to separate art from artist, but just keep in mind that you’ve already paid for those books. He isn’t getting more money from you just rereading them, and nothing changes if you continue to enjoy the books.
Also he doesn’t get paid if you pirate them. So feel free to pirate them.
The stories live on their own. They left his mind and are no longer his. They live in your mind now and are yours now.
If it makes you feel better about them being there, tear out or paint over his name on them. And continue enjoying stories that are good.
I believe in death of the author. People throughout history were all sorts of awful, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have some good thoughts too. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
Part of the problem in Gaiman’s case is that he absolutely does not shy away from sexual violence in his stories. The perpetrator usually gets punished, often ironically, but how can you read about one of his villainous rapist characters and not think about how he’s got experience with what that character is doing?
That’s not a problem with stuff like Good Omens, which is more family fare, or even the stuff he does specifically for kids. It’s a huge problem for stuff like Sandman and American Gods.
ty for writing this. it actually helped a bit.
I was going to say this is so beyond someone being racist or your favorite musician turning into a conservative shithead… which, it is, but… that helped. thank you.
It also helped that he withdrew completely from public life, as opposed to doing the jkrowling thing where she repeatedly announced that anyone supporting her books support her views. Divorcing good omens from him is even easier because Terry Pratchett’s daughter stepped up and took over in his stead, but also because there is acutoff that is immediate instead of something lingeringly tainting every aspect of his stories the way the harry potter books and other media is.
This hits tumblr expecially hard because he’s a regular poster there and his comments are everywhere, but nevertheless he did inspire a lot of young writers and give good advice there, and you cannot argue that those advice did good when they were being offered, while admitting that asking him anything are not advisable now even if he didn’t go full silence.
At least with Good Omens you can focus on Terry. This is grim.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Author
H. P. Lovecraft was very racist and you can even see his racism in his books, and people still read his books. You need to disconnect the author with the books, although Lovecraft was racist and not a monster like this guy. I even heard he tried to change before he died.
Yeah he was racist, but also a New England resident in like 1910 who married a Jewish woman.
I honestly think that Lovecraft might have suffered from some mental illness, the guy had so many phobias. His childhood wasn’t good either, he was racist because he genuinely thought they will kill him or hurt him.
I read an anecdote where Lovecraft went on some sort of antisemitic rant only to be gently reminded by his wife who he married. I guess he was an equal opportunity bigot.
Consuming the media is fine; funding the bad people (or their heirs and assigns) is not. Sail the high seas, mateys.
It depends on what the person did. Lovecraft was a racist, but never hurt anyone unlike this guy, so I think it is fine to buy his books.
I agree, but that’s not what Death of the Author means.
Time to buy mangas