I have unfollowed as many influencers as I can. Similarly, I don't need a new parasocial relationship with an author. No offense at all, Sophie, you seem so cool and smart and I loved reading what you had to say!!!! I look forward to reading your book, too. But I don't need to know the context of all in which it lives and what came before it.
I think right now we all focus a lot on what came before. I think trends like cancel culture want us to. Like I'm afraid to recommend a song without first checking to see if the artist is a self-identified Nazi. So I think I am overwhelmed by context. I want less connection and history with people I don't know and will never know, and more connection in real life. Like I just want to read the book and yap a little, that's all <3
On separating the art from the artist: "I'm afraid to recommend a song without first checking to see if the artist is a self-identified Nazi." Perfect.
But yes, this actually is making me think about how my view on what we should read for Open Book Club has changed as we've started to interact with the authors who write them
The irony of Manning saying the persona of an author can be very marketable, that there is cash value in knowing who they 'are' and the closing sentence explicitly saying he is a 'private person' is loud and hilarious.
I think there is a really fine line between separating the art and the artist, and that line is subjective based on your own personal standards. Like I try really hard to not listen to Chris Brown but sometimes when I hear that first beat of ‘Forever’ I’m like - shit!! (Really weak example but you get me)
I fear for women authors whose personas are so entangled with their work. I totally see and understand how its a useful marketing tool, but I feel like to Sophie’s point, the automatic assumption that the main character in her book is based on her sucks! And i of course agree that I dont blame the audience for making that assumption, but i just think make its a slippery slope. And potentially could make it more difficult for female author’s to artistically experiment with their protagonists if fans of theirs have a parasocial relationship with their online persona
Love this line: "I do not write autofiction. There is a talking snake in my book." I get the "But your main character is actually you, right?" question a LOT, and I'm like, ".......you realize there are murders in all of my books, right?"
I have unfollowed as many influencers as I can. Similarly, I don't need a new parasocial relationship with an author. No offense at all, Sophie, you seem so cool and smart and I loved reading what you had to say!!!! I look forward to reading your book, too. But I don't need to know the context of all in which it lives and what came before it.
I think right now we all focus a lot on what came before. I think trends like cancel culture want us to. Like I'm afraid to recommend a song without first checking to see if the artist is a self-identified Nazi. So I think I am overwhelmed by context. I want less connection and history with people I don't know and will never know, and more connection in real life. Like I just want to read the book and yap a little, that's all <3
On separating the art from the artist: "I'm afraid to recommend a song without first checking to see if the artist is a self-identified Nazi." Perfect.
But yes, this actually is making me think about how my view on what we should read for Open Book Club has changed as we've started to interact with the authors who write them
The irony of Manning saying the persona of an author can be very marketable, that there is cash value in knowing who they 'are' and the closing sentence explicitly saying he is a 'private person' is loud and hilarious.
I completely agree and left that sentence in the quote hoping people would notice
I think there is a really fine line between separating the art and the artist, and that line is subjective based on your own personal standards. Like I try really hard to not listen to Chris Brown but sometimes when I hear that first beat of ‘Forever’ I’m like - shit!! (Really weak example but you get me)
I fear for women authors whose personas are so entangled with their work. I totally see and understand how its a useful marketing tool, but I feel like to Sophie’s point, the automatic assumption that the main character in her book is based on her sucks! And i of course agree that I dont blame the audience for making that assumption, but i just think make its a slippery slope. And potentially could make it more difficult for female author’s to artistically experiment with their protagonists if fans of theirs have a parasocial relationship with their online persona
Love this line: "I do not write autofiction. There is a talking snake in my book." I get the "But your main character is actually you, right?" question a LOT, and I'm like, ".......you realize there are murders in all of my books, right?"
I guess we all just want to pretend that characters are real!? It's so funny that people say that to you
I have a sneaking suspicion male authors don't hear this as much.......
Naturally..