I think there are a few reasons that Tiptree's violent death doesn't render her repulsive to most readers (I was on Twitter when the stuff with the awards went down and it was… pretty silly) but the big one is just that Neil Gaiman really set himself up as an aspirational guy and a kind of moral authority outside of his fiction. Tbh, this probably goes for MZB too. (But also, and this is odd… but I think it's true… people seem to have a less visceral reaction to non-sexual physical violence than they do to sexual violence. I'm not sure why and probably don't want to think about it too long lol)
Ok, I re-read Calliope, and now believe that, yes, knowing about the author makes the story much more interesting. Disappointing too, but it makes me realize my previous readings of *everything* were naive.
I think there are a few reasons that Tiptree's violent death doesn't render her repulsive to most readers (I was on Twitter when the stuff with the awards went down and it was… pretty silly) but the big one is just that Neil Gaiman really set himself up as an aspirational guy and a kind of moral authority outside of his fiction. Tbh, this probably goes for MZB too. (But also, and this is odd… but I think it's true… people seem to have a less visceral reaction to non-sexual physical violence than they do to sexual violence. I'm not sure why and probably don't want to think about it too long lol)
Ok, I re-read Calliope, and now believe that, yes, knowing about the author makes the story much more interesting. Disappointing too, but it makes me realize my previous readings of *everything* were naive.