# Authors whose works profess beliefs antithetical to their own? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624 "2010-12-18T13:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/21 "2010-12-18T19:11:09Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > But all the works you cite are single volumes or take a variety of viewpoints across their works. Or both. > > Conan Doyle is a good one, though, with Sherlock Holmes. So, you mean the whole body of work or at the very least a series, where the artist adopts a permanent “advocatus diaboli”-position? In this case, I could name a couple a satirists, unfortunately all European, who have developed a persona or personas who advocate positions that are outrageously different from the ones of the man behind the mask: Gerhard Polt, for example, has acted in cabaret, movies, books etc. like the most petty-minded Bavarian Philistine, while he is quite the opposite. Jürgen von Manger had done the same with the persona of Adolf Tegtmeier, a simple bourgeois from the Ruhr area. I am sure you know examples from your culture too. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/22 "2010-12-18T19:27:37Z")
Sorry, double-post > [@Quartz](#): > > Conan Doyle is a good one, though, with Sherlock Holmes. I thought, you meant “political” differences; I am pretty sure all the fantasy authors don’t actually believe in the things they write - or let their protagonist state as facts. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/23 "2010-12-18T20:06:30Z")
Joss Whedon’s a confessed big gubmint Democrat type, but his “Firefly” (and its follow-up movie, “Serenity”) are some of the more overtly libertarian works of the past ten years. (It’s a tad ironic that a liberal Dem writes a more convincing fictional argument against big government than, say, Ayn Rand.) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/24 "2010-12-18T20:13:18Z")
> [@wintertime](#): > > Since you mention Spinrad, **RealityChuck** , _[The Iron Dream](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Dream)_ is another example, and a creepy one. The German _Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons_ (yes, it does exist) was so confused by the author’s intent that they indexed it for promoting Nazism. And as that Wiki article mentions, the American Nazi Party liked it. A variation on Poe’s Law I guess; they couldn’t recognize satire when it was aimed at them. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/25 "2010-12-18T20:27:01Z")
My copy of Arthur C. Clarke’s _Childhood’s End_ has at the beginning a line to the effect that “the views expressed in this book are not those of the author.” I’m still trying to figure out what that’s all about. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/26 "2010-12-18T20:27:26Z")
> [@wintertime](#): > > Sorry, double-post > > I thought, you meant “political” differences; I am pretty sure all the fantasy authors don’t actually believe in the things they write - or let their protagonist state as facts. 😉 Political differences are the most obvious, but someone who believes in fairies writing about someone who doesn’t does qualify. As for fantasy authors, a republican (note, small r) author whose hero was a staunch monarchist would qualify. Or, for example, imagine if John Norman were actually a Womens’ Libber. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/27 "2010-12-18T20:44:23Z")
Machiavelli was who I first thought of as well. There’s been a school of thought for a while (pre-Cracked, even) that _The Prince_ was meant as social satire rather than as a straightforward political treatise. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/28 "2010-12-19T00:07:56Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Political differences are the most obvious, but someone who believes in fairies writing about someone who doesn’t does qualify. I think the differences between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who kept a mind so open that it turned into a rubbish bin) and Sherlock Holmes (a poster boy for coldly analytical rationality) is more fundamental that a difference on one question of fact. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/29 "2010-12-19T00:14:46Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > According to the world renowned source of literary criticism [Cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com/article_18787_6-books-everyone-including-your-english-teacher-got-wrong.html), Machiavelli was _kidding_ when he wrote The Prince. > I hate it when people take my sarcasm literally too. Well, apparently satire doesn’t translate well, or goes over heads. But _The Prince_ certainly opens like a satire. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/30 "2010-12-19T00:14:51Z")
Speaking of Joss Whedon – for an atheist, he has done a lot to revive the supernatural in pop culture. 😉 > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > My copy of Arthur C. Clarke’s _Childhood’s End_ has at the beginning a line to the effect that “the views expressed in this book are not those of the author.” > > I’m still trying to figure out what that’s all about. _If_ I recall correctly, Clarke explained his disclaimer twofold in the following years: he believed, in contrast to a statement by Karellen (who was called Clarke’s voice by some critics), that humanity was suited for an expansion into space. But he was sceptical about ESP, in contrast to its presentation as a real phenomenon in the book. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And as that Wiki article mentions, the American Nazi Party liked it. A variation on Poe’s Law I guess; they couldn’t recognize satire when it was aimed at them. When I was still in school, I gave the book to someone born half a century too late. He didn’t get it either. You always know where you stand with an -ism, whose disciples have no sense of irony. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/31 "2010-12-19T00:22:05Z")
> [@wintertime](#): > > Speaking of Joss Whedon – for an atheist, he has done a lot to revive the supernatural in pop culture. 😉 Ditto JMS. He is an avowed atheist, but **Babylon 5** was filled with spirituality. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/32 "2010-12-19T00:28:45Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > Joss Whedon’s a confessed big gubmint Democrat type, but his “Firefly” (and its follow-up movie, “Serenity”) are some of the more overtly libertarian works of the past ten years. He is? Do you have a cite for that? I’m a Whedonite and don’t remember Joss making any overt political statements, unless you count his Equality Now speech about feminism. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/33 "2010-12-19T00:47:07Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’ll exclude the romance genre for obvious reasons. What are the obvious reasons? Do you think all romance authors must be romantics at heart, that novels in the romance genre don’t profess beliefs (political or otherwise), or that people who read romance novels aren’t interested in these sorts of discussions? Or is there some other obvious reason I can’t think of? Anyway, I agree with **wintertime**. It’d be easier to list authors who had characters whose beliefs specifically lined up with their own. I don’t really see what’s noteworthy about, say, Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes. Sure he might have believed a lot of bullshit, but that doesn’t imply anything particularly weird or interesting about his ability to write a man like Holmes. That’s the power of imagination. It’s like asking “Musicians whose works profess beliefs antithetical to their own.” Johnny Cash probably didn’t advocate shooting innocent men just to watch them die. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/34 "2010-12-19T01:18:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I know Eric Flint and wouldn’t categorize him as socialist. Really? Even though he was a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/35 "2010-12-19T01:28:55Z")
The views of Harry Paget Flashman definitely did not reflect the views of his author, George MacDonald Fraser. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/36 "2010-12-19T02:00:01Z")
HP Lovecraft’s stories are full of secrets _man was not meant to know_, indescribable _cosmic horrors_, and _superfluous italics_ but he was actually an atheist and scientific materialist. The racism that shows up from time to time is genuine, though. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/37 "2010-12-19T04:39:34Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Really? Even though he was a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party? Or, as he puts it: > [@](#): > > By the summer of 1971, I decided to leave the academic world. The reason, in a nutshell, was that after years of being politically active (mainly in the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam war movement) I had become a socialist. And the truth is that I didn’t have much use — still don’t — for academic socialists. It seemed to me then — still does — that a socialist political activist belongs on the shop floors of American industry and in its union halls, not in the ivory tower. > > So I packed up my bags and went to work as a longshoreman and then a truck driver, working mainly out of union hiring halls. By 1974, needing more stable employment, I became a machinist’s apprentice and wound up spending most of the next quarter of a century working as a machinist. At various times, however, I also worked as a meatpacker, auto forge worker, glassblower — quite a few things. During most of those years I was a member of the Socialist Workers Party, and, as is generally true of members of that organization — whose traditions go back to the footloose Wobblies — I kicked around the country a lot. At various times I lived and worked and was politically active in California, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia and Alabama. (I ran for Birmingham City Council when I lived in Alabama back in 1979.) (No, I didn’t win the election.) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/38 "2010-12-19T09:15:29Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > What are the obvious reasons? Because romances tend to be contained within one book, not across a series. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/39 "2010-12-19T17:49:06Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Because romances tend to be contained within one book, not across a series. Well, that’s not really true anymore. Most of the biggest selling romance authors write books that are stretched across three, four, five, or even a dozen or more books. Norah Roberts, Charlene Harris, Laurell K Hamilton, JD Robb, JR Ward, Patricia Biggs to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624/40 "2010-12-19T18:17:35Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Well, that’s not really true anymore. Most of the biggest selling romance authors write books that are stretched across three, four, five, or even a dozen or more books. Norah Roberts, Charlene Harris, Laurell K Hamilton, JD Robb, JR Ward, Patricia Biggs to name a few. I suppose it’s one way to keep the income flowing. Colour ignorance fought! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-works-profess-beliefs-antithetical-to-their-own/564624.md?page=3)