Alice Munro.
So people are learning (or rather, not learning) that just because someone can write a cohesive, moving and catchy short story, that doesn’t make them a saint? I feel sorry for Munro’s daughter but not surprised to find that Munro is just a regular ol’ person, not a paragon of virtue. Because most people are not, and artists probably least of all to be fair.
That Munro is a “monster” is absurd. She just sounds run of the mill in her personal life, as are most people. Weak, entitled and prone to keep the status quo in place. Big shocker. As mentioned, I feel terrible for her daughter (and others affected) but Munro’s short stories in my view stand alone and apart from that, as does all art. Good artists can barely control what they emit, anyway, and its quality has nothing to do with what sort of person they were or how they lived their own lives (often horribly).
Daum’s bloviating sounds just as overproduced as the encomia that followed Munro’s death. And just as worthless.
Munro’s art stands on its own or does not. In my case, having enjoyed Munro’s work in the past, I just loaded a Munro collection on my Kobo and will read that in short order. On with the art, as always….