This panel discussion, "The Moral Distance Between the Author and the Work," was recorded Saturday at the World Fantasy Convention (2010) in Columbus Ohio by a friend of Scott Edelman. The panel includes Scott Edelman, Eric Flint, Nancy Kress, Paul Witcover. Kathryn Cramer, and Jack Skillingstead. The panel is described in the program:
What do we make of good art by bad people, or at least people of whom we disapprove? Richard Wagner was a particularly vile anti-Semite, but he still wrote "Kill Da Wabbit!" and other great music. Should we listen? The official Nazi film industry made one very good fantasy film (BARON MUNCHAUSEN, to which the Terry Gilliam version owes a good deal). Should we watch this? What about an author who is a convicted child molester? Should we read his novel? CAN we read it for itself? Is it possible to truly experience any form of art as a thing until itself, rather than the product of its creator?
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ReplyDeleteThe panel was great. I was there, actually, and it's even better a second time around.