Exploring Flaws in Literary Idols

Nadja Maril
4 min readDec 17, 2024

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We all have our idols, people we look up to. In the writing world, it’s often writers who we admire, their books proudly displayed in our libraries.

But great writers are not always great people. Sensitive, perceptive and skilled doesn’t always mean a writer is kind to their friends, family or community.

Case in point has been news, revealed this past year (2024), after the death of celebrated Nobel prize winning author Alice Munro (1931-May 2024).

According to accounts from family members, Munro chose loyalty to her pedophile second husband over the health and wellbeing of her children and grandchildren. Eloquently the article “The Silence of Alice Munro” by Giles Harvey in New York Times magazine (12/15/24) delves into the complicated relationship between fiction and life.

We all have our flaws and often it’s the flaws that make for interesting storytelling.

A master of depicting the intricacies of family relationships, the unsaid and the hidden pain many individuals carry but never voice, Munro chose to protect her vanity rather than protect her youngest daughter Thea.

Munro’s second husband, Gerard Fremlin, sexually molested Thea, commencing at age nine. Munro chose to deny and defend, while secretly suspecting Fremlin of even more crimes, but staying silent. Truth was only shared as fiction.

Should I take the Munro books off my bookshelf? She was a master of the short story . I’ve read her stories multiple times. Her stories have taught me a lot about the short story form. They are not going anywhere.

Munro is just one of many writers, who may potentially be discarded because of character flaws. Society puts artists on high pedestals and then knocks them down. Eyes wide open, I want to know about the flaws. I know Roman Polanski, arrested and charged with the drugging and raping of a 13-year-old girl pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawful sex with a minor and fled the U.S., but that doesn’t stop me from admiring his work as the film director of classics that include Chinatown, The Pianist and Rosemary’s Baby.

I know that the beloved Dr. Seuss wrote books, six of which in 2021 were removed from active publication due to their racist stereotypes and the offensive content of their stories. One of those books I used to own, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, included an illustration of a man with slanted eyes wearing a conical hat holding a bowl of rice. The caption says, “a Chinese man who eats with sticks.” But Dr. Seuss books are on the top of one of my grandson’s Christmas list, and I’m not going to stop buying them.

I’m not in favor of banning Munro or Dr. Seuss, but the conversations are good. In Dr. Seuss’s case, he appears to having been acting out of ignorance. In Munro’s case, the story is more complicated. Her stories helped her grapple with her discomfort and cowardice.

Maybe, if you are a writer, you have something in your life you keep hidden. In fiction you can safely explore your fears without exposing yourself. Sadly, Munro’s inaction and denials deeply hurt her daughter. However, some secrets may primarily be doing damage to the person keeping the secret. The secret may be as simple as borrowing a piece of clothing from a friend and never returning it.

WRITING PROMPT: Write a scene or a story about a true secret from your life. It could be a “white lie” you told or some action that made you ashamed. Maybe you bullied someone or cheated on a test. Write it as fiction. Where does it take you? Can the fiction you write help you gain some insight into your past actions. In what ways have you or the character changed since the episode took place? Is there a story there which would resonate with others?

THANK YOU for reading. You can follow me and subscribe for FREE but if you’d like to support my writing, please buy my two newest books. I have a chapbook filled with short prose, short essays and poems RECIPES FROM MY GARDEN and a children’s book WHO IS SANTA?

Either one makes a great holiday gift. The monies raised from the Santa book is being donated towards research a rare children’s cancer related to the Dicer gene. If you buy one or both of my books, you are indirectly supporting the writer’s community.

Originally published at http://nadjamaril.com on December 17, 2024.

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Nadja Maril
Nadja Maril

Written by Nadja Maril

Writer, Poet, Author and Dreamer.

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