Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma

        「我對________的感情如今無處安放。」
 
        這不是被愛戀對象所傷的心碎告白，而是來自被喜愛的導演所背叛的影迷，迷茫的傾訴。你可以在空白處填入數個如雷貫耳的名字，他們帶來了藝術價值極高的經典作品，已經或即將影響數個世代的人們，同時，他們犯下的罪孽也難以丈量，不應被輕輕放下。
 
        本書是作家、書評人克萊兒．黛德勒，延伸其在巴黎評論(Paris Review)上引發熱議的文章〈What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?〉的精彩作品，作為電影愛好者，克萊兒站在粉絲立場發出眾人的疑問：我們可以繼續喜愛諸如身陷性犯罪指控的羅曼．波瀾斯基、伍迪．艾倫，以及被控對伴侶施暴的V．S．奈波爾、海明威等人的作品嗎？藝術是否特別被允許探索人類心靈的陰暗面？而倘若藝術家凝視深淵的時間太長，又會發生什麼事？
 
        克萊兒在書中探索觀眾與藝術家的關係：我們如何在道德憤慨和對作品的熱愛之間，取得平衡？她甚至更進一步詢問：難道，極度的惡行是創造極度的美好，不可或缺的要素嗎？
 
        如果你曾經，或正為任何藝術家、表演工作者、歌手明星的作品心折，這是你不能不讀的一部作品，克萊兒針對觀眾與粉絲無法迴避的艱難課題，帶來了兼具深度與廣度的討論。(文/博客來編譯)

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A timely, passionate, provocative, blisteringly smart interrogation of how we make and experience art in the age of cancel culture, and of the link between genius and monstrosity. Can we love the work of controversial classic and contemporary artists but dislike the artist?

＂A lively, personal exploration of how one might think about the art of those who do bad things＂ --Vanity Fair - ＂[Dederer] breaks new ground, making a complex cultural conversation feel brand new.＂ --Ada Calhoun, author of Also a Poet

From the author of the New York Times best seller Poser and the acclaimed memoir Love and Trouble, Monsters is ＂part memoir, part treatise, and all treat＂ (The New York Times). This unflinching, deeply personal book expands on Claire Dederer’s instantly viral Paris Review essay, ＂What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?＂

Can we love the work of artists such as Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Miles Davis, Polanski, or Picasso? Should we? Dederer explores the audience’s relationship with artists from Michael Jackson to Virginia Woolf, asking: How do we balance our undeniable sense of moral outrage with our equally undeniable love of the work? Is male monstrosity the same as female monstrosity? And if an artist is also a mother, does one identity inexorably, and fatally, interrupt the other? In a more troubling vein, she wonders if an artist needs to be a monster in order to create something great. Does genius deserve special dispensation? Does art have a mandate to depict the darker elements of the psyche? And what happens if the artist stares too long into the abyss?

Highly topical, morally wise, honest to the core, Monsters is certain to incite a conversation about whether and how we can separate artists from their art.

＂Monsters leaves us with Dederer’s passionate commitment to the artists whose work most matters to her, and a framework to address these questions about the artists who matter most to us.＂ --The Washington Post

A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Vulture, Elle, Esquire, Kirkus

CLAIRE DEDERER is the author of Love and Trouble, and the New York Times best-selling memoir Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses, which has been translated into twelve languages. A book critic, essayist, and reporter, Dederer is a longtime contributor to The New York Times and has also written for The Atlantic, Vogue, Slate, The Nation, and New York magazine. She lives near Seattle with her family.