10 Great Authors Who Disowned Their Own Books

William Haskins · May 5, 2014

some well-known, like kafka (who asked his friend to destroy his works), but some other interesting ones:

5) Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

"A novel I am prepared to repudiate" is how Burgess described A Clockwork Orange in his biography of another misunderstood novelist, D.H. Lawrence. Like many artists whose reputations become totally connected to one work, Burgess was frustrated that he was known only for A Clockwork Orange, which he claimed to have written in just three weeks. Some accounts claim that it was the film version and its popularity that made Burgess hate his own work so much. The "misunderstanding" represented by the film's seeming to "glorify sex and violence" will "pursue me until I die," he wrote.

10) Virgil, The Aeneid

Although The Aeneid was almost finished at the time of Virgil's death in 19 BCE, he is said to have asked his friends and executors Varius and Tucca to destroy the manuscript. Immediately after Virgil's death, Augustus, for whom Virgil had read books 2, 4, and 6, overrode that deathbed request and The Aeneid was brought into circulation. It's possible that Virgil's rejection of the manuscript was just a final grand gesture, calculated to increase the value of this epic account of the Trojan roots of the Roman Empire.

http://io9.com/10-great-authors-who-disowned-their-own-books-1571934580

blacbird · May 5, 2014

Burgess may have wound up hating Clockwork, but I'll add to the critical consensus that it's his best work, the one his reputation will always live by. It's a damn masterpiece, whether he wound up liking it or not.

Kafka wanted all his writings destroyed at the end of his short life. Fortunately, his editor refrained.

Nikolai Gogol did destroy his last manuscript, allegedly a sequel to his best-known work, Dead Souls. Writer friends of Gogol have lamented this travesty.

Hasn't Anne Rice had some degree of angst, based on changes in religious views, about her early and famous vampire and erotic novels?

caw

KellyAssauer · May 5, 2014

11. Don DeLillo: Amazons 1980 (under the nom de plume Cloe Birdwell)

=)

buirechain · May 6, 2014

Part of Burgess' problem with Clockwork Orange--I get this from his either forward or afterward to the copy I read--was that not only did the movie leave off the final chapter of his book, radically changing the meaning of the story, but so did the US edition of the book (until 1986). So, when the vast majority of the audience is left without the whole story and the complete meaning of a work, I think one is rather bound to get bitter; think about it, everyone loved a book and a movie that was starkly different from what he wrote.

Jamesaritchie · May 6, 2014

Well, I agree with Ian Fleming. He write The Spy Who Loved Me for the worst possible reason, and it shows in the novel.

I thought Stephen King's decision was idiotic.

Roxxsmom · May 6, 2014

blacbird said:
Hasn't Anne Rice had some degree of angst, based on changes in religious views, about her early and famous vampire and erotic novels?

caw

I don't follow her, having never really gotten into her novels, but I think she repudiated her re-found religion more recently.

Don't know if that means she's back to writing vampires.

gothicangel · May 6, 2014

Well, the Aeneid was one big propaganda piece for Augustus (Augustus was his patron), and if I remember correctly, Augustus had Virgil exiled. So, no wonder he disowned it.

Ken · May 6, 2014

blacbird said:
Nikolai Gogol did destroy his last manuscript, allegedly a sequel to his best-known work, Dead Souls. Writer friends of Gogol have lamented this travesty.

This is the only one I know of. Definitely a, "travesty."
Maybe it's just as well though. Going by Souls the follow up might have been so great as to leave literature without any further place to go or rhyme or reason for continuation. "Write?" "Why? Gogol has already said it all."

DancingMaenid · May 6, 2014

Jamesaritchie said:
I thought Stephen King's decision was idiotic.

I do, too. I can understand being really disturbed that someone may have used your book for inspiration in a negative way, but it seems like common sense to me that people who are interested in committing violent acts may take an interest in reading books that deal with similar crimes.

cmhbob · May 6, 2014

Great. Now I've got a Carly Simon earworm going.

Is it bad that I've never read any of these works?

blacbird · May 6, 2014

buirechain said:
Part of Burgess' problem with Clockwork Orange--I get this from his either forward or afterward to the copy I read--was that not only did the movie leave off the final chapter of his book, radically changing the meaning of the story, but so did the US edition of the book (until 1986). So, when the vast majority of the audience is left without the whole story and the complete meaning of a work, I think one is rather bound to get bitter; think about it, everyone loved a book and a movie that was starkly different from what he wrote.

Having the book with and without Burgess's preferred final chapter, and having watched the movie numerous times, I have a mixed view of this. I actually like where the movie ended, and where the final-chapterless version of the novel ended. But that apparently is darker and more cynical than fitted Burgess's concept. And, as the author, he certainly had a right to express displeasure about how all this worked.

But maybe I'm also a bit darker and more cynical than Anthony Burgess was. I did have the pleasure of listening to him give a fantastically entertaining lecture about Shakespeare, back in the 1970s when he spent a semester at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, where I was a student. I met him once, very briefly, just long enough to say hello. I hadn't yet read Clockwork at that time, but did shortly afterwards. It was one of those novels that pretty much ruined me as a writer, making it clear that I could never ever ever ever ever in galactic history write anything close to that good.

caw

kuwisdelu · May 7, 2014

It's an interesting ethical question.

Was it the right choice to disavow the author's wishes?

Should the author's desire have been honored and the manuscripts destroyed?

Or doesn't the author own and have rights over his or her own work?

JournoWriter · May 7, 2014

The lesson appears to be that if you want your work destroyed, you've gotta do it yourself.

phantasy · May 7, 2014

DancingMaenid said:
I do, too. I can understand being really disturbed that someone may have used your book for inspiration in a negative way, but it seems like common sense to me that people who are interested in committing violent acts may take an interest in reading books that deal with similar crimes.

Could someone clarify what happened? You guys didn't refer to any books in the thread.

Ken · May 7, 2014

phantasy said:
Could someone clarify what happened? You guys didn't refer to any books in the thread.

In the OP's concluding link. "Kid shoots up school, similar to what happened at Columbine high school in 1997."

"Rage" is still available on amazon.com as part of SKing's Bachman books. Was just curious to know if it was still available. Not interested in purchasing the book myself. Nope. Not at all !

A link to Dead Souls:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Souls

Enrika · May 12, 2014

Roxxsmom said:
I don't follow her, having never really gotten into her novels, but I think she repudiated her re-found religion more recently.

Don't know if that means she's back to writing vampires.

She is.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307962520/?tag=absowrit-20

colealpaugh · May 12, 2014

SKing being concerned about RAGE is almost quaint in the video game era. I recall thinking that while the violence was R-rated, especially since the teacher's body was in the room, the rest was rather G-rated for the amount of time the MC had. But school shooting are a special kind of horror for parents, so I feel for SKing. I sure wouldn't want that on my conscience.

cmhbob · May 12, 2014

colealpaugh said:
But school shooting are a special kind of horror for parents, so I feel for SKing. I sure wouldn't want that on my conscience.

I can't imagine why he'd have it on his conscience. He has no control over what his readers do. People get weird ideas. King came up with his randomly.

Look at 9/11 vis-a-vis Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor. In fact, my first thought when I first heard the news (the Pentagon crash was the first one I heard about) was that someone had read too much Clancy.

Alessandra Kelley · May 12, 2014

DC Comics may have reneged on its promise to remove Alan Moore's name from everything he ever wrote for them (after reneging on their implied promise to give him the rights to his own stories), but Marvel, at least, is issuing reprints of the incredible old Moore "Miracleman" series without any more credit than "by the author."

10 Great Authors Who Disowned Their Own Books

William Haskins

poet

blacbird

KellyAssauer

The Anti-Magdalene

buirechain

Caution: (tries to) Walk on Water

Jamesaritchie

Roxxsmom

Beastly Fido

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Ken

DancingMaenid

New kid...seven years ago!

cmhbob

Did...did I do that?

blacbird

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

JournoWriter

Just the facts, please

phantasy

I write weird stories.

Ken

Enrika

Mostly Lurking

colealpaugh

"Bear trumps Elephants!"

cmhbob

Did...did I do that?

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian