Thursday, January 17, 2008

Much Ado About Something?

If you've read my review of Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française, you know that I have great admiration for the book. You also know, however, that my admiration for the author--her tragic end notwithstanding--is somewhat more qualified. And you know why.

So you wouldn't be surprised that this Literary Saloon post has captured my interest.

One major issue at stake here (and it's not new, or isolated to Némirovsky) is a specific question about how a writer's actions and personal qualities can (or should?) affect the ways we approach his/her works--and how the contents of one book might affect our judgment of another book by the same author. All this is, I think, a particularly complicated question when the writer we're talking about is a fiction writer.

Read the Literary Saloon post. Then come back here and share your thoughts.

(Coincidentally, just as I read the Literary Saloon post, an e-mail bleeped in to let me know that the biography of Némirovsky that I'd requested from the library had, in fact, just arrived. Now you know what's going to the top of the tbr list....)

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