If you’ve read my postings for any length of time, it should come as no surprise that I’m a big fan of the writings of one H. P. Lovecraft. To me, he along with Edgar Allan Poe are the two most influential authors to delve into the field of horror. Their works are poetic, lyrical, and burrow deep within your head.
H. P. Lovecraft’s work is greatly admired, though the author never enjoyed that admiration while he was alive, something I find rather tragic.
However, having said all those nice things about Mr. Lovecraft, he was also a racist. So much so that I’ve written about it before (you can read one such posting here). In that posting, I take the position of separating artist from art. The fact is, there are works of art out there that are incredibly good and were made by people who were/are, at best, not all that nice at all…if not terrible.
Distinguishing one’s “work” from the person they are is now seeping into, of all things, politics and universities. Recently, Princeton University students protested Woodrow Wilson’s name on residencies and academic units as we know he displayed a strain of racism that even in his time was startling.
Now, students are turning their attention to Thomas Jefferson, whom students feel was not only a racist, but also a rapist. This article, by Scott Jaschik for Slate.com, goes into the details of what’s happening at The University of Missouri-Columbia and the College of William and Mary:
I’m of two minds here. The fact is that Thomas Jefferson was a GIANT of his time and was one of the most influential of the founding fathers. Much of what we have here in the United States today can be attributed to, among others, Mr. Jefferson.
On the other hand, there is no denying he was a slaveholder, a racist, and had affairs (which we can label non-consensual) with his slaves.
I don’t pretend to offer answers here. I can certainly see, just as I could in the case of H. P. Lovecraft, why some would shun the idea of having awards or places named after a person who, in “real life,” espoused/displayed reprehensible ideas. On the other hand, I still enjoy H. P. Lovecraft’s works though I know the man behind them wasn’t a great guy. I also relish the country I live in and it is in no small measure to the works of Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers…many of whom were hardly saints in their personal lives.
Perhaps the middle road is the one best taken: Acknowledge the good a person does but do not ignore the bad.
In some cases, we are dealing with different times, and in Jefferson’s case the times were indeed very different. But it doesn’t mean we should excuse his failings nor should it be a reason to ignore the positive legacy he left behind.