PART ONE: THE PROBLEM
What do L. Frank Baum, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Orson Scott Card, Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman. H. P. Lovecraft, J .K. Rowling, and J. R. R. Tolkien have in common?
Each is a beloved author who has written foundational speculative works that continue to inspire today. In some cases, such as Baum and Rowling, these authors have been hugely important to LGBTQ+ and other readers.
And each one of them have created problematic works and or/ done some truly horrible things.
Aside from Bradley, Gaiman, and Lovecraft, the works of each have been important to my development as a human and a writer. I would describe myself as a having been a hard-core fan of Baum, Rowling, and Tolkien, to whom I will pay especial attention below in a separate unit.
WHAT IS PROBLEMATIC ABOUT THESE AUTHORS?
In chronological order here is what we know about these problematic writers.
H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937): Racist and Anti-Semitic
It is widely known that Lovecraft, author of weird sf, fantasy, and horror, especially known for his Cthulhu Mythos universe, expressed highly racist views in his writing, was himself a white supremacist, and like many of that ilk, was also anti-Semitic.
Source:
Roald Dahl (1916-1990): Abusive, Anti-Semitic, Racist
Dahl, the author of such urban fantasies for children such as Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach, physically and emotionally abused his wife, Patricia Neal. He was also strongly anti-Semitic and racist. In the original version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Oompa-Loompas, a race of small humans who slave for and serve as guinea pigs for inventor Willy Wonka, were originally depicted as an African people. There is certainly a mean and often cruel edge to his writings.
Dahl’s family has apologized for his anti-Semitism.
Sources:
Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930-1999): Sexual Abuser and Enabler of Sexual Abuse
Content Warning: The links below contain graphic depictions of abuse.
There is ample evidence that Bradley, who is famous for feminist fantasies such as the Arthurian Avalon series, stayed silent knowing her husband sexually abused children and also
sexually abused her own daughter from age three.
Sources:
Jim C. Hines, “Rape, Abuse, and Marion Zimmer Bradley,” June 23, 2014
Orson Scott Card (1951-): Anti-Queer and Racist
Known for such science fiction works such as Wyrms and the Ender’s Game Series as well as a volume on how to write science fiction, Card wrote problematic fiction involving homosexuality such as Songmaster. Card is not only anti-queer and racist, he actively lobbies for those causes.
Source:
Rachel Edidin, “Orson Scott Card: Mentor, Friend, Bigot,” WIRED, Oct 31, 2013.
Neil Gaiman (1960-): Sexual Assault
Recently, five women have come forward and testified that Gaiman, famed for his Sandman fantasy comic series and the novel, American Gods, had sexually assaulted and or abused them as far back as the 1980s. The initial story was broken by Tortoise Media. Gaiman denies these claims, but Disney has already stopped production of the adaptation of his work, The Graveyard Book.
Sources:
OTHER PROBLEMATIC SPEC FIC WRITERS
Charles Dodgson (pen name Lewis Carroll) & L. Ron Hubbard
We might also add to the list Charles Dodgson (pen name Lewis Carroll), author of the Alice books, as there are indications he may have been a pedophile. L. Ron Hubbard, a deeply problematic person and founder of the exploitative Scientology cult is also relevant as he was highly prolific.
Sources:
Nolan Moore, “The Untold Truth Of L. Ron Hubbard,” Grunge, updated September 2, 2011.
Amy Scobee, Scientology: Abuse at the Top, Scobee Publishing, 2010.
The author would like to thank Spec Fic colleagues Elaine Clark and Matt Cushing for suggesting these authors.
PART TWO: THE BIG THREE: BAUM, TOLKIEN, AND ROWLING
L. Frank Baum (1856-1919): Beloved in the LGBTQ Community, Yet Racist, Encouraged Genocide
Baum’s utopian portal fantasy Oz series has inspired numerous speculative writers including Ray Bradbury, Terry Brooks, and Stephen R. Donaldson, who are cited in the reissue of the series by Del-Ray in 1979.
BELOVED IN THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY
OZ has also long been celebrated by gay men in part because of the movie featuring Judy Garland. For a while, gay men were often referred to as “Friends of Dorothy.” In addition the actual fourteen Oz books by Baum contain queer, trans, and transgressive themes, as well as feminist themes.
In the OZ world, it is mostly women who are in position of power, like Glinda and Princess Ozma. Ozma herself, as detailed in The Land of Oz, is a transgender icon, given that she was enchanted into a boy by an evil witch and only later restored to her true girlhood. The relationship between Ozma and Dorothy, who is essentially Ozma’s consort, has also inspired considerable slash fiction.
Most young men in Baum’s Oz stories are illustrated as “pretty boys” by John R. Neil and few of them have any interest in women. In fact, one of my personal favorites, Rinkitink in Oz, presents Prince Bobo and King Rinkitink running off into the sunset as lifetime companions that screams gay-coded (Chapter 23, “As for Prince Bobo, he had become so greatly attached to King Rinkitink that he was loth to leave him.”)
Sources:
Archive of Our Own, “Dorothy Gale/Princess Ozma.”
“Friend of Dorothy,” Wikipedia.
Reddit r/wizardofoz, “As a Queer Transwomen (sic), Ozma Means the World to Me,” 2021.
Reddit r/No Stupid Questions, “Why is the Wizard of Oz is Considered an Iconic Gay Film?,” 2022.
It makes it all the more painful that Baum and his writings are racist.
RACISM IN THE OZ BOOKS
In Chapter 22 of Rinkitink in Oz, as Glinda restores the enchanted Prince Bobo from a goat, she transforms him into a series of lesser human races, including “a lower form of man” that he calls a Tottenhot. Elsewhere mentioned in the Oz corpus (The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Chapter 19) this term is a play on Hottentot, an offensive term referring to the Khoikhoi ethnic group of southern Africa.
Also, in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Baum makes fun of Black rhythm and blues by having the main characters get angry at a sentient phonograph (you can’t claim Baum wasn’t creative). The characters also despise the victrola’s choice to play “My Coal Black Lulu.”
Sources:
BAUM ENCOURAGES GENOCIDE
Worse of all, Baum published a newspaper article advocating that one should exterminate Native Americans. Baum writes:
The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are.
Some are of the opinion that this, along with a second editorial, led to the massacre at Wounded Knee.
Baum’s descendants have issued an apology for his hateful words.
Sources:
J. R. R. Tolkien N (1892-1973): Racist, Anti-Immigrant, Colonialist
One can not overstate the importance of Tolkien’s epic high fantasy, The Lord of the Rings and the movies and TV series it has spawned. It has a become a permanent fixture in world culture and established the use of the Medieval world and species such as elves and dwarves as defining elements of such fantasies.
Even now, as we face a fascist and authoritarian government, many find inspiration in LOTR and LOTR memes to resist the evil on its way. And while we certainly can use whatever inspiration helps us, it remains important to understand the problematic aspects of Toklien’s writings, especially in the context of a White Supremacist government.
NOT A NAZI BUT APPEALING TO NAZIS
Although of German descent, Tolkien famously got angry with a German publisher asking him if he was of Aryan descent. He replied, “If I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.” He despised the Nazi German Chancellor and all that he stood for. He also opposed apartheid–but that “is not the same as being anti-racist or pro-equality.”
Also on the plus side, Frodo’s companion Sam, is described as being brown (The Two Towers, “The Stairs of Corinth Ungol”) with the implication, also expressed in the Prologue, that Harfoot Hobbits were brown as well. So those White Supremacists who protest the multi-colored cast of The Rings of Power can go “shove it.”
Sadly, Tolkien’s works have been inspiring neo-Nazis and the Far Right for a rather long time. As explored below, there are good reasons why.
Sources:
Reverent, “Yes, Tolkien Described the Harfoots as Having Brown Skin,” September 6, 2022.” Warning: Mentions Gaiman
RACIST EUGENICS IN LOTR: HUMANS
There are a number of features in Tolkien’s writings that appeal to such groups.
Tolkien divides humans into higher and lower races: High, Middle, and the Wild as described by Faramir to Frodo and Sam in The Two Towers. (“The Window on the West.”) The High are the Numenorians (people whose ancestors lived on an Atlantis type island). When they mix with non-Numenorians they dilute their blood, a eugenic theme that is repeated throughout The Lord of the Rings.
The Middle are people like the Rohirrim, a martial horse-loving people. Below them are the “Wild, the men of darkness.” It is not clear if Faramir, by using the term Wild is referring to the Drûedain, who originate from a noble group of men known as the Edain, that also includes the Rohirrim.
Though the leader of this group, Ghân-buri-Ghân, is a wise, helpful ally to the Rohirrim seeking a quick route to help defend the stronghold of Mina Tirith (The Return of the King, “The Ride of the Rohirrim,)” he and his people speak in an “uncouth” manner and are described as
Sources:
“Drûedain,” Wikipedia.
ELVES AND ORCS
These levels of humans are similar to the levels of species of sentient beings. The Elves are the highest, so that humans who have Elven ancestry (like many Numenorians) are considered a higher form of human, with brown hair and gray eyes as especially favored traits. Much below them are Orcs, whose origin is never fully resolved but de facto could be interpreted that a race could be inherently horrible.
Ben Rothstein reports that Tolkien’s 1958 directions for a film are fully racist when describing the Orcs.
Sources:
HOBBITS
The tripartate pattern is repeated yet again when Tolkien divides the Hobbits into three distinct racial groups with distinctly different physical features, as described in the work’s Prologue: the Harfoots, the Stoors, and the Fallohides.
The Harfoots (small, short, brown-skinned, beardless) have more dealings with men, the Stoors (broader, heavier) with dwarves, and the Fallohides (fairer of skin and hair, taller, slimmer) with Elves. Tolkien stresses that many of the more adventurous and celebrated Hobbit families, the Tooks and the Brandybucks, have Fallohide ancestry.
It is also interesting that Tolkien’s description of happier times in the Shire includes more golden-haired children (Return of the King, “The Gray Havens.”)
COLOR CODED ENEMIES
In Tolkien’s Middle Earth, many enemies, whether Orcs, Easterlings, or the “swarthy” Haradrim (The Two Towers, “Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit,”) are dark-skinned and Sauron has a “black hand.” People from far Harad who are described as “ black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues” (The Return of the King, “Battle on the Pelennor Fields.”) A man who might be part-Orc is is described as “squint-eyed” and having a “sallow face with sly, slanting eyes” (The Fellowship of the Ring, “At the Sign of the Prancing Pony.)”
WAIT, THERE ARE JEWS IN LOTR?
Also peculiar is Tolkien’s acknowledgement that the dwarves were intended to represent the Jewish people. This is especially problematic with respect to their depiction in The Hobbit as whiny, cowardly and greedy. But it is also an issue across LOTR, and it has been argued that Tolkien’s portrayal is inherently anti-Semitic. This is ironic, given that one of Tolkien’s grandsons is Jewish.
My private view is that C. S. Lewis, author of the Narnia books, and a close friend of Tolkien, also sees dwarves as Jews, especially in Prince Caspian, which speaks of dwarves attempts to assimilate, and most cringingly, in The Last Battle, in which they deny Aslan.
Sources:
Matthew Wills, “J. R. R. Tolkien’s Jewish Dwarves,” JSTOR Daily, September 24, 2022.
PROBLEMATIC TENDENCIES
Other problematic aspects of Tolkien are the anti-immigrant tendencies of Hobbits, as detailed in “The Sign of the Prancing Pony” chapter and implicitly in “The Scouring of the Shire,” a region that does not even let anyone other than Hobbits live there.
Add to this the colonialist gift of the land of Calenardhon to the positively depicted Rohirrim by Cyrion, the Ruling Stewart of Gondor, even though the west part of the region was already inhabited by the Dunlendings, who are still angry about this five centuries later, as detailed in the chapter “Helm’s Deep.”
Americans often are unaware that many British people are fiercely anti-royal, and for them as well as anyone else who is not a fan of monarchy, Tolkien’s reference to kings throughout LOTR as often wise and good, is also problematic.
Sources:
BBC, “Royals really cost £510m, anti-monarchists say,” September 23, 2024.
The rapidity with which fans and academics have rushed to defend Tolkien is itself troubling, and I will touch more upon this point in PART THREE.
Source:
J. K. Rowling (1965-): Anti-trans, Racist, anti-Semitic and using her platform to harm both individuals and groups
Rowling’s Harry Potter urban fantasy series have had a massive impact on readers around the world and has led to a revival of MG and YA fantasy. And again, many may find the inspiration to resist the incoming government from the series. But is this appropriate, given how Rowling aligns with the trans hate promulgated by the incoming government?
TRANS HATE IN HARRY POTTER
Though her Harry Potter books had been embraced by queer and non-gender conforming people like me, Rowling became a source of hate on the issue of trans people, especially trans women.
A careful reading of the series indicates subtle anti-trans sentiment, often known as “dog-whistling” including when Neville is told to imagine Snape in women’s clothing in The Prisoner of Azkaban (“The Boggart in the Wardrobe,” 102-104, Bloomsbury edition) and in Goblet of Fire (“The Weighing of the Wands,” 266, Bloomsbury edition) especially in the character of despised journalist Rita Skeeter. who has man-like features.
Sources:
Sarah Wheaton, “The metamorphosis of J.K. Rowling,” Politico, July 3, 2022.
JEWISH, ASIAN, AND BLACK STEREOTYPES IN HARRY POTTER
Jews, Asian, and Black people need not feel left out. All of these groups are depicted in problematic ways. The goblins, who run the banking in Rowling’s world, evoke painful Jewish stereotypes. Harry’s one-time girlfriend, Cho Chang, whose name “does not make sense for any culture in Asia,” is depicted as a weepy, emotionally fragile, and childish (an Asian stereotype), clearly not suitable for Harry.
Although Rowling includes a number of identified Black characters, including the oddly named Kingsley Shacklebolt, she seems to present the world as essentially color-blind, (itself a massive problem) a combination that indicates the world of Harry Potter aligns with “contemporary neoconservative racial ideology.”
And (in the American Scholastic Press edition) such strange comparisons of Dean Thomas as “a black boy even taller than Ron” supports the view that the work is white-centric. Add to this the series’ contention that house-elves are happy being slaves and should not be given freedom.
Sources:
OTHER STEREOTYPES AND HARMFUL DEPICTIONS
Irish people do not fare much better. And as for fat people, don’t even get me started. Depictions of Harry’s spoiled cousin Dudley Dursley are painful to read. More recently, Native Americans have also called attention to how Rowling has depicted their cultures in damaging ways in her History of Magic in North America.
Sources:
Elizabeth, “The Luck of the Irish in the Wizarding World,” Hogwarts Professor, March 30, 2017.
MORE TRANS HATE
Using the pen-name Robert Galbraith, the same name as a man who pioneered the horrible electroshock gay-conversion therapy, Rowling wrote Troubled Blood, which depicts a male murderer who dresses up as a woman.
On the site formerly known as Twitter, Rowling has used her platform to repeatedly write profoundly hateful anti-trans tweets since as early as 2020. Most recently, she has been among those who cruelly bullied Algerian Olympian boxer Imane Khelif (who is a cis woman) and is for this reason named in a cyberbullying lawsuit.
Anti-trans hate is especially problematic in the UK at present, generally supported by trans exclusionary radical feminists (TERFS). In this respect, Rowling’s activism of hate has arguably done serious damage regarding public policy.
In 2022, the British government banned the use of conversion therapy with queer people, but failed to protect trans people. The extent to which Rowling liking a tweet supporting this use of conversion therapy affected this decision can be debated, but it certainly didn’t help.
Sources:
PART THREE: SOME SUGGESTIONS
The question, “Can we separate the art from the artist?” is a trifle disingenuous, as it can largely be answered on a personal basis.
Some people can read these writings without any harm; others cannot. Even prior to Rowling raging at trans people within a public forum, I found much that was disturbing in her Harry Potter series, including its delight in depicting cruelty and its poor ability to depict characters with nuance at the outset.
And when a queer Alice in Wonderland anthology call for writings went up, I started a piece–I think it involved the lesbian lover of the wrongly maligned Jabberwocky–and found that the icky feeling I felt about Lewis Carroll and Alice too much for me. I stopped all work on the story pronto.
The better question, I think, is what is our responsibility as allies, citizens, teachers, and parents, when confronted damaging writings by problematic authors.
WHAT TO DO & WHAT NOT TO DO WITH HURTFUL WRITINGS
DO trust individuals when they tell us these writings are hurtful to them, either due to their contents, due to the actions of its authors, or both. That should be the primary barometer that guides our actions. It is also imperative as human beings, especially writers, for us to educate ourselves about negative stereotypes and tropes and be able to be critical readers of fiction. It is not the job of marginalized people to educate us.
DO NOT defend the author. It is beside the point to argue, for instance, as to whether Tolkien was or was not a racist, to justify the racism in his writing due his milieu, or that it is merely a reflection of the Medieval literature upon which he based his Middle-Earth. If the text is problematic, it remains problematic. Especially when it actively inspires White Supremacists.
DO take in issues of milieu when discussing these problems in an age appropriate fashion with children we care about or students. It is critical that young readers, who ideally have studied some form of Critical Race Theory, to discuss these problems in depth.
DO engage older readers with a historical study of the eugenics movement and the nature of colonialism and imperialism. Another rewarding theme to study would be the genteel form of anti-Semitism featured in British culture of the past and present. Even my beloved writer, Virginia Woolf, was subject to it.
Sources:
Anthony Julius, Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Antisemitism in England, Oxford, 2010.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT AWFUL WRITERS
In cases in which the author was a truly horrible individual it is a trickier. Would young readers find it a bait-and-switch to find out much later the sad truth about a favorite writer? That’s what happened to me at age twelve when my father introduced me to The World of Mathematics, and I first read about Charles Dodgson’s naked photographs of little girls. It went downhill from there.
There is also the issue to consider of whether we want to expose young children to hateful ideas, thus propagating them. This was raised recently at the Rainbow Space Magic Con in September 2024 under the program unit, “Problematic Faves.”
Obviously, we must oppose all forms of book banning, but none of these writings should be assigned in class until students have the ability to think critically about them and this should include a substantial curriculum that takes into account these problems head-on.
I would love to hear from others who have children in their lives what they think.
Note, this is not about “cancelling” any of these authors. Along with other biblical scholars ancient writings, my studies have included an endless array of troublesome passages, including evidence of a rape culture in ancient Israel. We cannot understand the problems of the present without being educated of the problems of the past.
IF THE AUTHOR IS STILL ALIVE
In cases, however, in which the problem author is still alive, here are some additional guidelines:
DO NOT give any money to living authors doing harm like Card, Gaiman, or Rowling. If a child you know wants to read Harry Potter get it for them second-hand from a site like Alibris, a more ethical option than Amazon. If you or they want to see a Harry Potter movie, also get it secondhand, and do not pay to see it in the cinema. Do not purchase any Harry Potter merch, go to any Harry Potter theme parks, or purchase games such as Hogwarts Legacy, all of which benefit Rowling monetarily
DO encourage the child (as is age appropriate, some of these works contain sexual activity) to read some of the wonderful transgender Harry Potter fan fiction and encourage them to make their own creative responses to what they have read.
DO keep in mind that casually mentioning the Oz books without qualification to a Native American is the functional equivalent of talking neutrally about the Chancellor of Nazi Germany.
DO believe trans people when they say they feel unsafe should anyone mention of Harry Potter without stating explicitly that one disavows Rowling’s hateful words and deeds. Time and time again on Goodreads I have read trans reviewers reacting to books that use Harry Potter unreflectively. I myself discussed Rowling’s work in my publications, and I wish I could take it back.
CONCLUSION
It is terribly unfortunate that some of the most important spec fic writers and works are problematic. This is especially the case when one finds out about the problems only after becoming a fan.
But problems such as racism, sexism, ableism, and heteronormativity are nothing new to readers of SFF; such issues have been rampant throughout science fiction and fantasy. As we strive to create more balanced world in our own writing, we can learn from the mistakes of others.
Whether one can still read these problematic writers after knowing what we know is purely the reader’s choice. No judgment there. For many of us, the books by these authors have and continue to be life-saving. In these troubled times, all the more so. But with the knowledge we have, we cannot discuss these works in the classroom or elsewhere in the public arena without substantial qualifications at the very least.
And maybe it is time to find new books and authors to inspire us, including living authors, who are not hateful or problematic, and may even represent marginalized groups in their writing in an authentic manner.
Seek out authors who further the celebration of the human spirit even during times most troubling. Read and be inspired by authors who speak to the unity of humankind, and of life itself, and our responsibilities to each other, to the planet, and more. Immerse ourselves in writings that spur our resistance of all forms of hate, that can help us envision and build a brighter future. Or become such an author yourself.
The world is waiting. What shall you read and write to sustain your soul and the souls of others in a time in which hate and abuse are not merely found in fiction but are also the order of the day? Choose wisely.
Sources:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.2018102226
Naomi S. S. Jacobs (she/they) is an artist, poet, activist, Jewish historian, and writer of speculative fiction, including alternate history about power couple Alan Turing and Harvey Milk.