Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A timely, passionate, provocative, blisteringly smart interrogation of how we make and experience art in the age of cancel culture, and of the link between genius and monstrosity. Can we love the work of controversial classic and contemporary artists but dislike the artist?
"A lively, personal exploration of how one might think about the art of those who do bad things" --Vanity Fair - "[Dederer] breaks new ground, making a complex cultural conversation feel brand new." --Ada Calhoun, author of Also a Poet From the author of the New York Times best seller Poser and the acclaimed memoir Love and Trouble, Monsters is "part memoir, part treatise, and all treat" (The New York Times). This unflinching, deeply personal book expands on Claire Dederer's instantly viral Paris Review essay, "What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?" Can we love the work of artists such as Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Miles Davis, Polanski, or Picasso? Should we? Dederer explores the audience's relationship with artists from Michael Jackson to Virginia Woolf, asking: How do we balance our undeniable sense of moral outrage with our equally undeniable love of the work? Is male monstrosity the same as female monstrosity? And if an artist is also a mother, does one identity inexorably, and fatally, interrupt the other? In a more troubling vein, she wonders if an artist needs to be a monster in order to create something great. Does genius deserve special dispensation? 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? 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. "Monsters leaves us with Dederer's passionate commitment to the artists whose work most matters to her, and a framework to address these questions about the artists who matter most to us." --The Washington Post A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Vulture, Elle, Esquire, Kirkus
"A lively, personal exploration of how one might think about the art of those who do bad things" --Vanity Fair - "[Dederer] breaks new ground, making a complex cultural conversation feel brand new." --Ada Calhoun, author of Also a Poet From the author of the New York Times best seller Poser and the acclaimed memoir Love and Trouble, Monsters is "part memoir, part treatise, and all treat" (The New York Times). This unflinching, deeply personal book expands on Claire Dederer's instantly viral Paris Review essay, "What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?" Can we love the work of artists such as Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Miles Davis, Polanski, or Picasso? Should we? Dederer explores the audience's relationship with artists from Michael Jackson to Virginia Woolf, asking: How do we balance our undeniable sense of moral outrage with our equally undeniable love of the work? Is male monstrosity the same as female monstrosity? And if an artist is also a mother, does one identity inexorably, and fatally, interrupt the other? In a more troubling vein, she wonders if an artist needs to be a monster in order to create something great. Does genius deserve special dispensation? 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? 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. "Monsters leaves us with Dederer's passionate commitment to the artists whose work most matters to her, and a framework to address these questions about the artists who matter most to us." --The Washington Post A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Vulture, Elle, Esquire, Kirkus
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Community Reviews
For the first 1-2 chapters, this book seemed more like a memoir rather than a work of literary criticism, and I wasn't a fan. But the author delved into the primary aspects of the book soon enough, and it improved significantly. Towards the last chapters the author's memoirist voice became more prominent again, and the main argument seemed underdeveloped. Instead of discussing the consumption of the artist's work and dealing with the problematic aspects of the artist's personal life, some parts were overly convoluted, focusing excessively on the admiration for the artist at a superficial level. This was unexpected from a book of literary criticism. Initially, I wasn't too fond of the open-endedness in each chapter, but after the author's explanation on the topic of subjectivity and personal experience, I gained more clarity on that. However the thesis, pointing to "there's no ethical consumption under consumerism" seemed rather lazy and uncreative. Coupled with the author's excessive sentimentality towards some of the artists, repeatedly expressing "I love him" I had hoped for a deeper exploration of this topic, combining both logical analysis and subjective viewpoints. I expected more exploration of the parasocial relationship between fans and problematic artists, as well as more rigorous explanations on capitalism's influence on our consumption habits, especially concerning specific artists.
I would rate this book 3.5 stars out of 5
I would rate this book 3.5 stars out of 5
Ultimately the question is what do we do about the monsters we love? We can still love terrible people.
I was hoping for some kind of chart or directions about how to deal with art made my bad people, but the essays are more memoir, delving into so many variants on the themes of bad people doing art and how our own selves dictates how we respond or react. The audience and the artist. There was no objective way, it’s always personal.
I read it on the plane from Phoenix to Honolulu 
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