Having been chastised into being polite, thoughtful, and considerate -- you know, civilized -- by my mother, I am always astonished at people who are not like that and when it's someone in the industry in which I work, I am all in on spectating the bad behavior. This is not to say I am perfectly behaved, not even close, but at least I try. Mostly.
Recently, there was a nasty kerfuffle when an author trademarked a word and then served other authors who used the word in their titles with cease and desist letters, claiming she would sue them for using the word that was pivotal to the success of her brand. Yes, you read that right - she trademarked a word!!! Needless to say, I had to fire up the popcorn machine and settle in to watch the drama unfold. It is still underway, I believe, as it has gotten even bloodier since Amazon started to take down the books of the authors served with cease and desist letters. How the Patent and Trademark Office approved this author's request to trademark a word I do not know, but (hoo boy) it made for some crazy Twitter reading! (If you want to read about it, this website does a nice summary from a legal perspective: The Passive Voice).
That's the latest mayhem in publishing that I've seen, but as far as I can tell it's been going on since authors took pen to paper. Here are some of my favorite tidbits old and new:
Charles Dickens was awful to his first wife Catherine, mother of his ten children, who he then dumped for Ellen Ternan. He was aware it would impact his public persona of being a kindly man, so he kept his new relationship very hush hush.
Norman Mailer stabbed the second of his six wives, Adele Morales, twice with a pen knife! And then when someone went to help her, he told them to let her die. She didn't.
Ayn Rand told her husband that she planned to have an affair with one of their mutual friends and then she went ahead with it. Why does this not surprise me?
Jonathan Franzen speculated that Edith Wharton "hated women" and only wrote tragic beautiful female characters because she was herself unattractive. Ugh! Back away from the first female to win a Pulitzer, dude.
Nicholas Sparks is a study in how not to do an interview unless you enjoy a fiery backlash. For example, when being interviewed do not compare yourself to Hemingway and Shakespeare and then declare that no one else is doing what you do. It doesn't go over well. Humility matters.
I have to admit that even while I am fascinated by reading about the misbehavior of some authors, I do have a hard time separating the artist from the art, knowing that an author is a jerk will taint their writing for me. When I do my book signings, I always ask the booksellers if they have any authors behaving badly stories for me -- they usually do!
What about you, Reds and Readers? Can you read an author after you discover they are not what you supposed? Can you separate the artist from the art?
