It's like having a Garfield with murderous tendancies

[secondlina]

Lewis Carroll's birthday has passed. He'd be darn old today.

Most people know I love fairy tales and fantasy stories. Alice is up there among my favorites. Yet, I always get the "Urgh, you liked Lewis Carroll, he was totally a pedophile" attitude once in a while. It's true, he might have been one. There's evidence that states that as much as there is evidence to the contrary. I like to think that if he was one, he was a contained one and did not take action.

It sucks that people judge you for liking something because of a writer's opinions (like "he's racist" or "He's sexist" or anything else). I my view, a work of art can be judged independently from the creator to an extent. There's plenty of people I don't like very much who write really well or draw really well.

It kinda brings in the question of how much of an artist can you find in a work and how much of an artist must you consider when looking at work. Can a work really live beyond the artist or is the artist part of the work?

-Isa

Comments

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Or rather, if not for the artist, would the work even exist?

I ought to try reading Lewis Carroll's books again someday. I remember reading bits of Through The Looking Glass and the excerpt with The Jabberwocky, but beyond that all I really know are the various adaptations of Alice in Wonderland....and how I don't like them. (They're just a bit too weird for me, which is kind of crazy considering the things that come from my brain.)

People do say a lot of things about him, it's true, but so it goes for many people. Heck, a person I follow after is said to have been little more than a hippy of his era, but I don't care.

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

*** random excerpt ***

And the tall grandfather clock by the door kept time with its steady tick-tock as it counted off the seconds that remained in Alice's life. It still perplexed her to this day why the clock didn't move, that the hands didn't spring to life and start dancing. More seconds passed, then the clock rang out.

Six O'Clock.

As usual, as she was wont to do at this particular hour of the evening since she was a child, Alice turned to the door expecting to see a white rabbit come running through with the cries of "I'm late! I'm late!" echoing through the room. But, as her common sense told her long before the wishful thinking kicked in, the white rabbit didn't come. Neither did Lewis.

But she did.

It felt like the time that Alice hesitantly tapped the tip of one of the new-fangled light bulbs. An electric shock that tingled from head to toe. She had no problems picking out the source, even in the lobby of the crowded hotel. She was small, had dark hair and wide, inquistive eyes. She stuck close to a mirror image of herself, a twin. Another woman - Sister? Mother? - stood next to them as she signed the register. Every so often, the first twin would tug on the sleeve of the other and point out one of the elaborate decorations or the richly costumed bellmen.

And in that room, at that time, Alice's world narrowed to that single child who took in her surroundings with such utter joy and wonderment. She'd been that child once - before Wonderland. Then adulthood came and with society's manners, crammed that childish glee into a very small box and locked it in the back of her mind.

"Alice?"

He was at her shoulder and she didn't look back. "Lewis," she breathed. "See her? That child?"

"Yes?"

"She's one of us."

[neshel.livejournal.com]

I know Marrion Zimmer Bradley's actions, or rather inaction, has somehow tainted her books as far as a lot of people are concerned.

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

You know what, I think people enjoy making these theories on historical figures because they know it will stir controversy and the people they theorize aren't alive to defend themselves, so it's easy to do. It's like how there are people that are certain William Shakespeare was gay (like Lewis there's evidence to both support and not support this theory) or those rumors about Walt Disney (and frankly there's too many to count)or that stone henge was built by aliens. I think with any of these kind of theories, unless there's evidence to prove without a doubt, you have to take them with a grain of salt. There's 1,000 ways to interpret a book/piece of artwork.

For example, I remember once reading about Terry Pratchett in an interview. He was asked about the hidden meaning and symbolism in one of his novels and when asked about he just answered "Um...I just wanted to write a funny story."

On that note, I think the ideal is that the art lives beyond the artist/writer. You can appreciate a person's work without having to agree with his opinions. I think a lot of people tend to forget that.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

SAY NO, LINK!!!!

You have the right to like who you want to like. Hell, a LOT of well-know writers had major issues! Poe, Byron ect... That doesn't diminish the fact that they're good writers and they have good stories.