Terry Sarten: To read or not to read - that is the question

Should Picasso's attitudes to women affect our perceptions of his art? Photo / File

OPINION

Brilliant work by bad people: Should we separate the work from its creator, putting the terrible things the author has done to one side, or decide not to read their books, poetry, listen to their music or avoid their artwork?

This question will be up for grabs at Article Cafe on October 2 as part of the Whanganui Literary Festival. Carla Donson from the Women's Network, Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall, raconteur extraordinaire Jay Rerekura, poet Airini Beautrais, all-round clever person Elise Goodge and I will be tackling this modern dilemma from all angles.

There are certainly plenty of examples spread across the centuries of creative people producing brilliant work who, on closer inspection, have done bad things. The artist Caravaggio, considered one of the great masters, was known to have killed a man. Does this colour our perception of his art? Do we set some sort of historical boundary marker and allow such matters to pass, while reconsidering how to view Picasso's work in light of his known attitudes to the women in his life?

Do we decide never to read Hemingway again because it turns out he was not a nice person and treated people, including his own family, badly? One if his children wrote that his father had written a couple of good stories but destroyed an entire family with his wild behaviour. So, does this make a difference to how we read Hemingway's books?

The question of brilliant work by bad people in the world of music brings a number of the usual suspects into the line-up. First in the line - Michael Jackson. There were allegations of child abuse. Do we now choose to ignore his music or ignore what we know about his personal life and listen to his music? It has been argued by some that Jackson was himself a child who had never grown up but is this an adequate alibi?

Some might argue that great art requires great effort and that neglecting other priorities is somehow acceptable. On the other hand, a lot of brilliant work has been created by people who have followed the path set by their moral compass without compromising their art.

The dilemma of what to do about brilliant work by bad people presents in various guises. I play some John Martyn songs because they have wonderful lyrics. It is a matter of continued astonishment to me that these beautiful songs came from a man who was known to be violent to women, a raging alcoholic and all-round nasty person.

I debated for some time about whether I should play his songs. In stark contrast, I immediately ditched all recordings by guitarist Bob Brozman when, after his death, it was alleged he had sexually abused children in the countries he toured.

What was the difference? My emotional response was that Brozman was an exceptional guitar player but wrote nothing enduring that could in any way be placed in balance against who he was, while Martyn's songs rise above the person he was.

This example does display some contentious logic but does underscore the dilemmas that gather round how should we respond to great art by bad people.

* Terry Sarten (aka Tel) is a writer and musician.