Monsters : a fan's dilemma / Claire Dederer.

Author/creator Dederer, Claire, 1967- author.
Format Book
EditionFirst edition.
PublicationNew York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.
Copyright Date©2023
Description273 pages ; 22 cm
Subjects

Contents Prologue: The Child Rapist -- Roll Call -- The Stain -- The Fan -- The Critic -- The Genius -- The Anti-Semite, the Racist, and the Problem of Time -- The Anti-Monster -- The Silencer and the Silenced -- Am I a Monster? -- Abandoning Mothers -- Lady Lazarus -- Drunks -- The Beloveds.
Abstract "In this unflinching, deeply personal book that expands on her instantly viral Paris Review essay, "What Do We Do With the Art of Monstrous Men?" Claire Dederer asks: Can we love the work of Hemingway, Polanski, Naipaul, Miles Davis, or Picasso? Should we love it? Does genius deserve special dispensation? Is male monstrosity the same as female monstrosity? Does art have a mandate to depict the darker elements of the psyche? And what happens if the artist stares too long into the abyss? She explores the audience's relationship with artists from Woody Allen to Michael Jackson, asking: How do we balance our undeniable sense of moral outrage with our equally undeniable love of the work? In a more troubling vein, she wonders if an artist needs to be a monster in order to create something great. And if an artist is also a mother, does one identity inexorably, and fatally, interrupt the other? Highly topical, morally wise, honest to the core, Monsters is certain to incite a conversation about whether and how we can separate artists from their art"--Provided by publisher
General note"This is a Borzoi book"--Title page verso
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 261-273).
Issued in other formOnline version: Dederer, Claire, 1967- Monsters. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023 9780525655121
LCCN 2022032926
ISBN9780525655114 (hardcover)
ISBN0525655115 (hardcover)
ISBN9780525564188 (paperback)
ISBN0525564187 (paperback)
ISBN(electronic book)