A few weeks ago, I was treated to a very rude awakening with regards to an author that greatly influenced me as a teenager.
Marion Zimmer Bradley had sexually and physically abused her children for years. More, she enabled and covered for a known pedophile, ex-husband Walter Breen. While Breen would eventually go to prison for his crimes, Bradley never did. The worst part was that she never appeared apologetic for what she did.
Currently, much discussion is still to be had on Marion Zimmer Bradley, whether she should be excused because she is deceased, or whether readers should separate the art from the artist. “She is dead,” some argue, “So just let it go. She wrote some good books, and let’s concentrate on those. The artist is not the art, they are separate, and they should be.”
I beg to differ. I simply cannot separate the artist from the art. As a musician, I do not perform music by Wagner for this reason. Wagner changed the scene for classical music and opera in the 19th century. He was also known for anti-Semitic leanings and his use of Jewish stereotypes in his operas. Decades after his death, Wagner’s music and philosophy were later appropriated by Hitler and the Nazi movement. Due to Wagner's appropriation, his operas have never been performed in Israel.
I avoid movies directed by Roman Polanski and his supporters. It’s bad enough that he raped someone, but Polanski had the audacity to flee the United States when he was indicted. Worse, people came to his defense stating that he was a tortured soul, or that punishing him for some petty crime like rape would stifle his artistic integrity. People defend him to this day, and it’s quite sickening in my opinion. Because of this, I choose not to spend my money or time on either Polanski or his supporters.
People think I am pretentious for drawing battle lines, but I feel it’s necessary. As an artist, I include a bit of my soul with my work. You cannot separate my music from my very being, nor my characters from me. How is it different for others? One big thing to remember is that with any work of art, we give our trust to the artist. We empower the artist to add just a little more influence to our very being.
As a mother, the news of Bradley’s atrocities devastates me. As an artist, I feel her behavior betrayed the craft. As a one-time fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s novels, I feel as if part of my soul has died. To learn that an author that my friends and I admired for so long was a monster makes me wonder if the solace I found in those many chapters and strong characters were only a farce fueled by her ill regard for the audience she wrote for.
Despite the fact that Marion Zimmer Bradley has been dead for nearly fifteen years, her victims are still alive. Bradley’s daughter suffered in silence for many years, afraid to come forward for fear that her mother’s fans would dismiss her story in favor of her mother’s legacy. Once again, I cannot separate the artist from the art. I am a mother, a musician, and aspiring writer. I refuse to silently allow the cycle of abuse to continue. I refuse to separate the art from the artist, because it’s not fair to anyone who has suffered the abuse.
Instead, I choose to celebrate the work of those who deserve it. There are plenty of artists that deserve the limelight far more than Richard Wagner, Roman Polanski or Marion Zimmer Bradley. I’ll swap Wagner for Mendelssohn, a composer Wagner despised. I’ll choose to listen to the music of Clifford Brown, a brilliant jazz trumpet player and composer who died tragically at age 22. I will continue to read authors like Connie Willis, and choose to share the writings of my friends and mentors. I will applaud the performances of people who have not stomped on the inherent worth of others, but have instead dedicated themselves to hard work in their craft. I choose to help create a world for our students and their children, so that they can create art freely with respect for each other. So should you.