I loved the Peter Weir adaptation and was always hopeful there would be more, particularly with that ending leaving it open like that. I picked up the first book recently so that I could read through it on vacation. I do tend to agree with Jan Morris in that only people who knew the author have reason to care about his personal life. Of course there are limits, and given the author has been dead for 26 years and the events he is accused of happened 70+ years ago, O'Brian can no longer atone for his past misdeeds. I'm not certain if knowing that O'Brian was a horrible family man will change my enjoyment of the first book, but that remains to be seen. I may not even get through reading it due to other factors, anyway.

I was curious if his family ever wrote about him and his son Richard Russ did in below article. I think this gives a good insight into how his son felt about his father, and particularly how his mother felt until her death.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/nov/28/fiction.film

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ComputerPerson 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I haven't read Master and Commander and likely never will after reading this article. I couldn't get over the bad taste in my mouth I don't think. Fortunate for you to have read the book before the article.

Too many good novels that weren't written by dispicable people.

	▲	defen an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I think it's a mistake to dismiss them just for that reason. He's been dead for 26 years, and you can get the books second-hand, so it's easy to acquire them while ensuring no money goes to him or his estate if that's what you're worried about. They're an absolutely fantastic set of novels, full of joy and adventure and excitement and humor and astonishing erudition.. Tom Stoppard admired him (as mentioned in the article) and Thomas Pynchon even wrote him into a brief scene in Mason & Dixon.

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magarnicle 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think the best heuristic for separating artist from their work is: How much does the artist try to put their own personality into it?

Woody Allen films are very much soaked through with Woody Allen. I don't get the sense that O'Brian's books are to the same degree.

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dwd 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You have to question what of the person filtered through to their works.

As a teen I voraciously read my way through the Belgariad, and later the Malloreon, Elenium and the Tamuli.

Shocked to learn that Eddings and his wife were both convicted and jailed for child abuse prior to writing those novels.

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ChrisMarshallNY 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I still like those books, and, for some reason, that didn't affect me. Other people, however, have. Science fiction/fantasy has a long, turgid history of weird and unsavory authors. I tend to ignore that.

I think books have a firewall between the author and the characters on the page. Actors, however, are a different matter. They are the medium.

	▲	jay_kyburz 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I've always enjoyed H P Lovecraft and was disappointed to learn about his racism and xenophobia. AI tells me its was way beyond what was normal at the time.

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wombatpm 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I stopped after Malloreon more because my interests changed. Finding out their history hasn’t changed anything for me. But Marion Zimmerman Bradley for some reason has and I have no desire to read any of her books ever again.

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move-on-by 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I read Atlas Shrugged recently. I went in not knowing anything about the book or author. I liked it for maybe half way through and despised it by the end. Reading about the author after finishing the book, it had a lot of her personality in it.