The Literary Executor's role, to burn or not to burn?

July 12, 2008 10:17 AM

Vladimir Nabokov wanted his final, unfinished work destroyed. So too did Franz Kafka. Max Brod, Kafka's literary executor in charge of his works, writes: "Franz should have appointed another executor if he had been absolutely and finally determined that his instructions should stand." Who is in the right, the author's final wishes, or the greater needs of society and the social benefit of works of art that would have otherwise been destroyed. Would we see Nabokov or Kafka, in the same light had these literary executors not disobeyed their requested orders.
posted by Fizz to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

As you surely know, there are hundreds of ways to approach this question. If you are interested in a legal one, I recommend starting with an article by Lior Strahilevitz called "The Right to Destroy." It's available here.
posted by Xalf at 10:23 AM on July 12, 2008

Testaments Betrayed, by Milan Kundera, addresses the Kafka question. IIRC, Kundera thought that what Brod did to Kafka was abominable.
posted by jayder at 10:32 AM on July 12, 2008

Another data point: legend has it Virgil wanted the Aeneid destroyed. The emperor ignored his wish.
posted by sbutler at 10:39 AM on July 12, 2008

Emily Dickinson asked that her poems be burned. The artist Aubrey Beardsley wanted some of his paintings to be destroyed. There are many such cases. In fact, the question you pose has been the topic of many debate rounds on APDA.

Of course, there isn't really one right answer. Questions about the "right" thing to do are never simple, because there is no simple, universal agreement as to what is "right" in the first place.

I'm not really sure what you're asking. Are you looking for an objectively correct single answer? Are you interested in polling the community to get a sense of what the majority opinion is? Are you trying to get us to flesh out an essay for you? If you're asking in earnest, then an unanswerable, philosophical question such as yours might find a better home at the BBQ.
posted by prefpara at 10:48 AM on July 12, 2008

Response by poster: Hmm, still fairly new to this site, so I will do better about asking such questions and be more precise and clear the next time around. I'm not sure what I'm really wanting to ask. I was unsure of whether or not I should have posted here or over at the blue. My apologies if I've made a metafilter faux pas.
posted by Fizz at 10:58 AM on July 12, 2008

Maybe the literary executors destroyed all the question marks that could have been used in this piece of ChatFilter?
posted by Forktine at 10:59 AM on July 12, 2008