Does it matter?
I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that Anne Rice announced last week she was “quitting Christianity”. I was amazed at the amount of attention her declaration garnered, spawning various articles, Twitter comments and Facebook discussions. I remember her decision to “join Christianity” after years of being known as the queen of vampires. There was quite a reaction then as well although without the social networks of today, the discussions weren’t so public.
I would think that an author’s belief system would impact his or her writing. Not being an author myself, I am simply guessing. Any authors out there feel free to chime in? But when you’re reading (disregarding intentionally religious books) how much of that element plays into your experience? Personally I rarely read something and think “That’s obviously an allusion to Christianity/atheism/Buddhism/whatever”. Actually I’d have to say I never do that.
I’m just curious, does knowledge of an author’s beliefs and /or personal life affect whether you’ll read them? What if you’ve been a fan and later find out something you don’t agree (or even agree) with?
1 Comment so far
by Tom
On August 6, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I do that frequently, its hard not to do once you learn a lot about those beliefs. Sometimes its like a subliminal message; as soon as you see it, you can’t unsee it. You need to read books where the religious allusion is the point of the book.
– The Chronicals of Narnia
– The Life of Pi
– The Golden Compass
– The last Harry Potter book
– Stranger from a Strange Land
Movies too:
– The Lion King
– The Matrix