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Comment by mosselman | Hacker News Reader

What does literary ability have to do with anything else a person has done? Would Macbeth or Pride and Prejudice have been worse books if they were written by Hitler for example?

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Even though you yourself can judge a book only by its contents, when discussing it you will inevitably run into people who will bring the merits of the author into the discussion. It's called "The death of the author", and I invite you to look up the excellent videos covering the topic on YouTube.

>It's called "The death of the author", and I invite you to look up the excellent videos covering the topic on YouTube

I'd rather invite them to read the original Roland Barthe's essay (1967), which has that same title. Additionally, one can read New Criticism's authors on what they called the "intentional fallacy".

I personally wouldn't spend my time skimming through clickbait-y YouTube videos in hopes that I find one that is actually informative instead of a half-assed presentation made to maximize monetization.

Probably not, but would it be as widely distributed and read?

(good heavens, the implications - ultra right wing skinheads suddenly willing to reading Pride and Prejudice...)

Hitler is not praised the way Churchill is in mainstream.

Hitler was a terrible author.

Are you seriously trying to compare the achievements of Hitler and Churchill in a morally neutral context?

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