Score

Great list! I always wonder about this as some writers are such horrible people! I ban some of them and won't read their books due to things they have done. I guess Jack London is OK. He sure had a horrible childhood and I heard at Lupus Support Group that he had lupus.

I didn't realize that about Jack London. He was required for me. I didn't like the viciousness in The Call of the Wild. I thought some of his books showed tolerance. When I was 16 I was supposed to read Lady Chatterley's Lover and I was very shocked. I was unable to read it even tho it was required.

This is a very good list and I am glad you created it.

I also had to read The Catcher in the Rye which I liked as I felt it increased awareness about depression caused by grief. I know very little about the writer. I will look on Wiki to read about him.

In one of his books, critic Malcolm Cowley discusses whether bad people can create good literature. See "And I Worked at the Writer's Trade."

P.J. wrote: "In one of his books, critic Malcolm Cowley discusses in detail whether bad people can create good literature. See "And I Worked at the Writer's Trade.""

At least one thing about them they are usually NOT boring. There are so many books that are endlessly boring. I don't know how people stand to read them. I need some excitement and different viewpoints but then there are some that are so wicked no one should ever be exposed to them like The Last Werewolf. I believe those books can actually make a person sick.

...And I Worked at the Writer's Trade: Chapters of Literary History 1918-1978. Trying to read about this one.

W. Somerset Maugham on novelists:
He discusses what makes a good novel and a good novelist. Novelists have immense vitality, he concludes, but are self-centered and “on the whole not nice people.” They make good company, but are hell to live with.

I suspect that bigotry is more emotional than intellectual. Thus it can co-exist with brains.

Umm Hi! I'm not sure that Hitler can be considered a great author??

I do not agree that George Orwell was a terrible person.

Most of these are Roald Dahl! I totally agree that he was horrible.

The work survives the creator, and it does so by its own merits.

Picasso notoriously abused women. Van Gogh notoriously used prostitutes. Do we remove their paintings from museums?

If the life of an artist, author, musician, etc., makes you feel icky, tough! Don't lay that on me or my children, please. I teach art, not gossip.

Richard wrote: "The work survives the creator, and it does so by its own merits.

Picasso notoriously abused women. Van Gogh notoriously used prostitutes. Do we remove their paintings from museums?

If the life of..."

Richard wrote: "The work survives the creator, and it does so by its own merits.

Picasso notoriously abused women. Van Gogh notoriously used prostitutes. Do we remove their paintings from museums?

If the life of..."

This is censorship and reflects the current trend to try to eliminate literature the basis of the character of the author. We live in a free land where we are free to explore ideas written by all kinds
of people who lived in different times and places. Don't judge so kneejerk. Read many things outside of your frame of reference. Challenge yourself. The books on this list are written by challenging people in challenging times. We cannot approve of all authors, but we can take a peep into their books. I have read many of them.

i remember putting on another list that Neil Gaiman gives me the creeps… now, he has been accused of sexual assault by two very young women. i would never usually judge people just by the vibe they give off when it comes to something so serious… but in this case, i am not surprised in the least.
Marion Zimmer Bradley should definitely be #1 – what she and her husband did is HORRIFIC. thankfully, i have heard that royalties from her books now go to child sexual abuse charities, so people who enjoy her writing should hopefully feel a bit less guilty.

and now the daughter of the recently deceased Alice Munro has stated that Alice stayed with her husband after learning that he sexually abused her. this is so disgusting.

This is a non-issue.

Do we gripe about Picasso (notorious womanizer), Van Gogh (used prostitutes), Michelangelo (murderer), Degas (rabid anti-Semite), Bacon (sexual predator, spreader of STDs), etc. etc. etc.?

Do we ignore their work? Do we remove it from museums?

Of course not. In each case, their art changed the world. That's their contribution, not what they did in real life. Same goes for writers and everyone else in the arts.

Half of the musicians, painters, poets, writers, etc., etc., whose work we respect and adore, were extremely imperfect people.

Which brings up another point. We are ALL imperfect people because we are human. Who are we to criticize? Hypocrites.

Richard, if this is a non-issue to you, tough. It doesn't sound so, though.

Has anyone been asking for a boycott of these authors and their work? No.

Has this literature changed the world? Well... not really. I'm pretty sure no-one misses much if they never read any books on this list. I have read many of them, but don't think any of them has "changed my world". I'm sure the thousands of people who haven't read these authors are just as good people as I am.

Can an artist's deeds be separated from their work? Not really. Especially when the artist is an author. Words have power, much more power than pictures. These authors put their values, opinions, attitudes, and ideas in words in their books and spread them. Quite a lot of people have confirmed their horrible attitudes and justified them with a book.

And, seriously, if you think a person whose worst imperfection is being codependent and whiny is comparable to a person who is a PDFile, racist, misogynist, or responsible for genocide, I don't think much of your values. One imperfection is not the same as another.

Lastly, no one has said the people who have voted for books on this list consider themselves "not terrible people". To be a hypocrite, one needs to consider oneself innocent of the crime one accuses the other. This list is not a list of "imperfect people", this is a list of "terrible people", and we are not all "terrible people" just because we are human.

I disagree with you thoroughly and completely.
This is the way it goes sometimes. ; )
BUT I truly appreciate your taking precious time to communicate with me. That says a lot! Even as I disagree, I respect you and your viewpoints on this.

Yap :-D The world would be a rather boring place if everyone agreed on everything.