Should a Work of Art Stand Apart From It's Creator?

In the previous post, I wrote about one aspect of a New York Times interview of black American author Alice Walker, whose most highly regarded book, "The Color Purple," while controversial, is generally considered solidly within the American literary canon -- along with titles such as "To Kill a Mocking Bird" (which I will turn to shortly), "The Great Gatsby" and "Catcher in the Rye." It won Pulitzer and National Book Award prizes in 1983.

The topic of this post is whether one does, or should, think less of "The Color Purple" if one comes to believe that Ms Walker has anti-Semitic leanings.

Or no matter how reprehensible the creator of a work of art may be, should the object -- in this case a work of fiction -- stand on its own once it has been launched into the realm of the public?

Similarly, should one revise one's views on the merits of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the wake of the publication of "Go Set a Watchman?"

Arguably, "Watchman," written first, but released 55 years later, was turned into the far more morally uplifting "Mockingbird" over a two-year period with the extensive help of an editor looking for something that would be a lot more saleable.

"I was a first-time writer so I did as I was told," Lee said in 2015, explaining the evolution of her first draft, which depicted the key character, Atticus Finch, as a bigot, into "Mockingbird" where the same man was depicted as determined to see that all races were treated the same, in a court of law at any rate.

Did Lee sacrifice the truth (Finch was based in large part on her father) for fame and profit? Or is the truth not what fiction is all about?

The question is particularly pertinent in the case of "Mockingbird" because the novel has been required reading for vast numbers of American schoolchildren over the years since its publication. Is that because it is just a good yarn, or is it because it is viewed as having a message children should absorb? If the latter, should they now be made acquainted with "Watchman" as well?

These are questions I ask friends from time to time and the answers suggest that people want to find reasons to preserve things they personally like, and are far more willing to devalue things they personally don't like.  So far, there does not appear to be a dispassionate single answer.

(I've also written about "Mockingbird" and "Watchman" in earlier posts, which readers can find here and here.)