I wonder how Purim went down with his wife. Wow, what a muddled dude…
Actually this is a constructive comparison. I read 5 or 6 of his SoT novels before erecting a personal perma-ban. I won’t read anything he’s written, nor consume any related media. I’m trying to figure out what the difference is between him and Lovecraft for me. I’ll read Lovecraft, but not Goodkind. And I don’t know, they’re both hack writers, so it’s not quality. Maybe it’s that Goodkind’s injection of his personal philosophy into his writing is a little more obvious? Or that the SoT novels are really just polemic in a way that Lovecraft’s aren’t?
For me it’s always a case-by-case basis. I can still read Heinlein, even though I find some of his philosophy pretty odious. But I can’t read David Weber any more, despite his books being generally quite competent sci-fi fodder.
I’d agree with you logic. Now flawed comparison coming, because Lovecraft is racist and the other guy isn’t:
I, only with the foreknowledge of his personal letters and his wife’s bio later in life can see Lovecraft’s personal racist and xenophobic views in his work, after critical reading and seeing multiple allegories based on the previous private knowledge.
Heinlein (thanks, @CraigM) , however lets his personal political (not racist) beliefs positively shine through his work. I can’t think of one where his views and ideas on citizenship and the individual’s relationship to the state and society don’t shine like the sun on a clear summer’s day. No private letters and scrying stones needed there.
I sometimes thing the gaming journalism crowd just doesn’t wanna miss the “woke train” that all their other journalist pals are on. “We’re real journalists too!”. And all their young colleagues at other media outlets are all being as woke as woke can be. “I wanna be woke too!” I mean, sure, Lovecraft was a racist, absolutely. But that’s not exactly breaking news. And dealing with this sort of issue in the arts and entertainment isn’t exactly new either.
Complete side hijack but I am now imagining Lovecraft at his wife’s family’s place like an inverse of Annie Hall’s Easter…
Goodkind is literally, explicitly, and fully admittedly trying to use his work to convince you of his beliefs. He bristles at the idea of being shelved as fantasy because he thinks his books are Important ™. Lovecraft was a bigot whose bigotry manifested in his work, but they’re stories he’s telling, not philosophical treatises.
I’m not familiar with what makes Weber troublesome; can you give a summary?
You guys have made compelling arguments. I promise I will never again invite Lovecraft over to my house for game night, even if he brings snacks.
Make sure you serve Soul Food, or a Kosher selection.
Funnily enough, he seemed to really hate the Irish more than anyone else (a New England WASP, go figure…).
Good move, I say…
Warning this first clip has sensitive charged content.
Eh, he gets a bit too preachy in a rather right-wing way, a sort of superficial suck it up snowflake faux libertarianism, I guess you could call it.
So Jerry Pournelle?
See, but as woke left folks are wont to do, this is becoming “Artists whose politics I disagree with” being conflated with “Artists who are/were actively anti-Semitic, racists, etc.”. There is a difference. Alert HuffPo and Vox to that fact. ;)
I don’t like Pournelle because I don’t like his “art”.
All I really recall of SoT is some fairly graphic sex scenes?
Well, I can dislike works because of a lot of things. If the work is good enough on its own, I have a higher chance of being able to like it despite any problems I might have with the artist. Likewise, the level of ickiness of the author affects things too. If I stop reading Weber’s stuff, it’s because on balance his in-text preaching annoys me more than his text itself pleases me; I make no judgment about him per se. If I stop listening to Nugent, it’s because his personal expressions of political views (including inciting people to literally hunt liberals like they were animals) are really odious to me. His music hasn’t changed, and objectively is still solid rock ‘n’ roll in many cases.
Oh, I am with you and agree completely. I am merely stating that “I don’t like an artist because I disagree with the artist politically” is distinct from “I shun an artist/work because of the artist’s/work’s reprehensible racial/bigoted views”.
Pretty sure this isn’t just something that occurs just on the left.
https://twitter.com/EnchantdApril/status/1049099577247391744
I’d concur. It’s part of the demonization/polarization game.
Pournelle has his issues. But Mote in God’s Eye was a great read. JP was mellowed by Niven. They do work great together. Niven’s aliens and Pournelle’s space military.
Yeah, see, for me it was always a “Niven is now detouring into a Pournelle cul d’sac” thing. I wanted more Niven solo.
It’s like wanting another Neil Young album and then seeing he’s working with Stills on something.
Certainly a valid point.