Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma

A NEW YORK TIMES MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK 

• A passionate, provocative, blisteringly smart interrogation of how we make & experience art in the age of #MeToo, & of the link between genius & monstrosity. 

• From the author of the New York Times best seller Poser & the acclaimed memoir Love & Trouble

“Thrillingly sharp, appropriately doubtful, and more fun than you would believe, given the pressing seriousness of the subject matter.” — Nick Hornby, best-selling author of High Fidelity

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In this unflinching, deeply personal book that expands on her instantly viral Paris Review essay, "What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?" Claire Dederer asks: Can we love the work of Hemingway, Polanski, Naipaul, Miles Davis, or Picasso? Should we love it? Does genius deserve special dispensation? Is male monstrosity the same as female monstrosity? 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?

She explores the audience's relationship with artists from Woody Allen to Michael Jackson, asking: How do we balance our undeniable sense of moral outrage with our equally undeniable love of the work? In a more troubling vein, she wonders if an artist needs to be a monster in order to create something great. And if an artist is also a mother, does one identity inexorably, & fatally, interrupt the other? Highly topical, morally wise, honest to the core, Monsters is certain to incite a conversation about whether & how we can separate artists from their art.