This week’s prompt: What is your opinion on modern artists’ interpretations of deceased authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, and Jane Austen? Do you think these interpretations represent the authors correctly, or do they disrespect the authors?
This is an interesting prompt. It’s hard for me to give a definitive answer to this question, mostly because I haven’t engaged with many. I’m also not sure if this is referring to paintings or books about them or movies about their lives? Or all of the above and possibly some others? So it’s further difficult for me to reply. But in a very general sense, I’d say it very much depends on how it is done. If it’s a portrait, does the artist spend time not only studying images of the author, but learning about their lives so that they can imbue the painting with a sense of who they were? Is the artist choosing a subject that matches their style or that they feel a strong desire to honour? Similarly if it’s a book or film, how well-researched is it? Does it attempt to understand the person’s life and experiences and present them as best they can as they were, or do they take liberties or choose to focus on the more salacious aspects of their recorded history? If it’s someone who died a shorter time ago, did they talk to living relatives to learn more about what the person was really like? Did they seek out living friends or partners or children who could ensure that the depiction felt real?
I guess the answer to this would be it depends. It depends on how it’s done, the research put into it, who the depiction is of (is it of someone with living relatives that might reveal upsetting information that they’ll have to deal with fallout from?) and the reasons for wanting to do it (I feel like unless there’s a new way of tackling it or new information, there’s not a lot of point in doing another biography that’s the same as ten others).
What about you guys? How do you feel about modern artists’ interpretations of deceased authors? What did you interpret this as meaning?
The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly blog link-up that gives participants a different book-related question to ponder each week, and allows them to share their thoughts, find new blogs to follow and connect with new readers. The Hop was originally created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and is now hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. To see a list of upcoming prompts go here.