CREATIONS AND THEIR CREATORS

That's me and J. P. Donleavy, author of THE GINGER MAN, around 1977 at the only 9 to 5 office job I ever had. I was a writer and editor at The Franklin Library for less than two years (I quit after being asked to fire someone under me who didn't deserve it, and because the office life was killing me). I was interviewing him, but you can see by my expression what I thought of him.

At the time I was a big fan of THE GINGER MAN, but in that moment was rapidly becoming not a fan of the author. In this encounter I found him unfriendly, petty, and just so arrogantly dismissive of seemingly every author but himself, I went home and threw the book out.

I've done that with other writers and creators whose work I dug but who disappointed me in their personalities and/or beliefs. But I gradually let go of that reaction, realizing most of us are imperfect, and if any of us create something that has an impact on the world in what we see as positive ways, maybe we can forgive the creators for being less, sometimes a lot less, than we expected.