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Monsters

What Do We Do with Great Art by Bad People?

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Monsters

By: Claire Dederer
Narrated by: Claire Dederer
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About this listen

 A passionate, provocative and blisteringly smart interrogation of how we experience art in the age of #MeToo, and whether we can separate an artist's work from their biography.

What do we do with the art of monstrous men? Can we love the work of Roman Polanski and Michael Jackson, Hemingway and Picasso? Should we love it? Does genius deserve special dispensation? Is history an excuse? What makes women artists monstrous? And what should we do with beauty, and with our unruly feelings about it?

Claire Dederer explores these questions and our relationships with the artists whose behaviour disrupts our ability to apprehend the work on its own terms. She interrogates her own responses and her own behaviour, and she pushes the fan, and the listener, to do the same. Morally wise, deeply considered and sharply written, Monsters gets to the heart of one of our most pressing conversations.

(P) 2023 Penguin Audio©2023 Claire Dederer Art Ethics & Morality Literary History & Criticism Philosophy

Critic reviews

What a treat it is: funny, lively and convivial, constantly in argument with itself . . . Dederer's tone and willingness to be wrong and confused, along with her seductive, intimate style, bring the subject to new life . . . how rare and nourishing this sort of roaming thought is and what a joy to read. How moving, too, the underpinning adoration that allows the difficult questions to be asked. You are left wishing Dederer would apply her generous mind to every other niggling unfinished hang-up that haunts our culture (Megan Nolan)
In a world that wants you to think less - that wants, in fact, to do your thinking for you - Monsters is that rare work, beyond a book, that reminds you of your sentience. It's wise and bold and full of the kind of gravitas that might even rub off (Lisa Taddeo)
Personal, open-hearted and intellectually playful (50 of this year's best non-fiction books)
Witty and conversational . . . It's a book full of the nuance that the cancel culture debate so often lacks (*Books of the Year*)
Enthralling, challenging and downright unsettling . . . smart and provocative . . . Monsters is a vital book for our times, and it offers so much rich food for thought (Martin Chilton)
Thrilling
A properly honest and passionate book that will help set this debate alive (Andrew Marr)
An exhilarating, shape-shifting exploration of the perilous boundaries between art and life. This timely book inhabits both the marvellous and the monstrous with generosity and wit (Jenny Offill)
Exhilarating (Kathryn Hughes)
Excellent . . . Frank . . . A work of deep thought and self-scrutiny that honors the impossibility of the book's mission (Melissa Febos)
Monsters is an incredible book, the best work of criticism I have read in a very long time. It's thrillingly sharp, appropriately doubtful, and more fun than you would believe, given the pressing seriousness of the subject matter. Claire Dederer's mind is a wonder, her erudition too; I now want her to apply them to everything I'm interested in so I can think about them differently (Nick Hornby)
A hot and urgent monologue structured around a problem without a solution . . . The conclusion to this immersive and doubtlessly important book is both tentative and bold (Frances Wilson)
Part memoir, part treatise, and all treat . . . nimble, witty . . . her exquisitely reasoned vindication of Lolita brought tears to my eyes . . . This is a book that looks boldly down the cliff of roiling waters below and jumps right in, splashes around playfully, isn't afraid to get wet. How refreshing
A timely interrogation of the eternal question: can you separate the art from the artist? It showed me my bookshelves, my record collection, the pictures and films I love - even myself - in a new, unflinching light. I'm pressing it into the hands of everyone I know. (Erin Kelly, author of The Skeleton Key)
All stars
Most relevant
Clear-eyed and insightful book-length essay on a thorny issue given the endless revelations and realisations about the people who make the art we value

Timely and Timeless sadly

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I heard extracts of this book and decided it was worth a listen. The early chapters are great and were really engaging and thought provoking. I felt it lost it's way towards the end as it became a little too much about the author rather than the artists. But it was enjoyable, entertaining and eye opening. I have already started recommending it to friends to read.

A fascinating exploration of a moral dilemma

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Too much emphasis on what the author thinks and feels. She goes down self indulgent rabbit holes for example her views on the film Manhattan. Some very problematic comparisons for me that seem to almost victim blame. Great concept and overall interesting but it needs more editing and direction from its editors.

Good concept but problematic

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i have been having conversations about separating artists from art for years. but seemingly more frequently of late as more and more of our so called heroes are revealed to be, at the very least, problematic. so when i came across the abridged version of this book serialised on radio 4’s ‘book of the week’ it was minutes before i’d come here and downloaded it in full.

claire dederer, in writing this book, has taken on a mammoth task. and done it so adeptly i feel changed by it. her understanding and rigorous analysis of our responses to art and its inextricable link to artist has provided innumerable insights for me. and she has done it so compassionately and candidly, incorporating elements of autobiography and countless admissions of her own fallibility (for we are all fallible - part of the point of the book).

feminism, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, transgender rights and humanitarianism are all rolled into it and incorporated with as much self-awareness as is possible. it is an ambitious and important book. and i was deeply moved by the end of it.

i can’t wait to listen to it again. and carry on talking about it, being inspired by it and poorly paraphrasing parts of it. i can’t recommend it enough.

the book i needed

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I got this book after hearing Mark Kermode's recommendation on his podcast, Take. Initally, I found the subjects covered in the early chapters to be varied and of great interest. However, I fell away from the book once the author began to look in a more inward direction at her perceived failings as a Mother. I've listened to 6hrs of the 8hr 14mins. I probably started to lose interest around Chapter 9, Am I a Monster?, as this was the point, in my opinion, that the author began to deviated from the books central concept.

Early Chapters are very thought provoking,

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