JK’s magic.. she doesn’t have to be a transvestite serial killer to write about one
Author rejects self-censorship
One of Scotland’s top novelists insists JK Rowling must be able to write about whatever she wants after the latest transgender row.
The Harry Potter writer, 55, was subjected to bitter attacks from activists following the publication of her latest novel, Troubled Blood.
The book, published under r
Rowl ing ’ s pseudonym m
Robert Galbraith, features a “transvestite serial killer”.
William Boyd said it was s ludicrous that writers should d self- censor themselves amid d a growing “cancel culture” ” and accusations of “cultural al appropriation” when writing g outside their own gender, r, sexual orientation or race.
Boyd, 68, who found acclaim m with 1981 debut novel A Good d
Man In Africa, later adapted d into a movie starring Sean n Connery, said: “If you’re going g to write a realistic novel about ut a great slice of society, you u obviously venture into areas s and characters you have no o experience of.
“Leo Tolstoy wrote Anna a Karenina. He wasn’t a woman. n. Flaubert wrote Madame e Bovary. Novel ists have always done that.
“Writers aren’t fools. They know certain areas are tricky and full of pitfalls or minef ields but there’s no reason you can’t advance through a minefield if you have a mine detector.
“If you’re going to write a novel about a trans person, just make sure it’s really well done. Then you can be judged as to whether you’ve succeeded or failed. It shouldn’t be self-censorship.
“I’ve written about 80-year-old men. Am I to be banned from writing about very old men because I’m not a very old man myself?y It becomes ludicrous.”
“I total ly disagree with this t literary appropriation where w you can’t write about something s or somebody that you y have no experience of.
If Robert Galbraith was not JK Rowling, I bet nobody would have made any fuss
“You can do anything you want w but if it’s not good or it’s it offensive then you have to t take the consequences.”
Rowling was accused of bbeing transphobic after saying ththat “people who menstruate” aare called women.
Many within the LGBTQ+ ccommunity were further inincensed after the author chose tto include a cross- dressing vvillain in her recent novel.
Boyd added: “If Robert GGalbraith was not JK Rowling, I bet nobody would have made aany fuss. It’s because she is a totowering icon – anything she ddoes is going to be scrutinised.”
In 2013, Boyd wrote James Bond novel Solo, with the blessing and cooperation of Ian Fleming’s estate.
He said: “I read his novels. They were written in the 50s and are steeped in prejudice, from making fun of foreigners and lady drivers to racism and antisemitism. You can’t burn his books because he was reflecting the mores of his time.
“My new novel Trio is set in 1968 and the world was different then. Intelligent readers have to make the adjustment.”