JK Rowling called ‘Britain’s nastiest novelist’ in New Statesman

[IwantToRetire]

After setting out the examples of nastiness in recent works including The Ink Black Heart and The Running Grave, he stated that Rowling has evolved “from saint-like Labour Party-supporting children’s author to polemical political activist, seemingly obsessive about the tabloid media, Scottish nationalism and, most provocatively for her millennial readers, gender-critical feminism”.

He claimed that she lacks “self-awareness” because she “condemns vicious keyboard warriors and hysterical reactionaries in her books but engages in similar behaviour herself online”.

“In another world, JK Rowling could be a character in a book by Robert Galbraith: brittle, insecure, cruel.”

Following the backlash, the New Statesman appeared to alter the original headline to “JK Rowling, Britain’s Gloriously Nasty Novelist”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/15/jk-rowling-called-britains-nastiest-novelist-new-statesman/

I dont think it is a surprise that some male writer would say this. The question is why would the New Statesman want to publish it?

Article behind paywall but can be read at https://archive.ph/LJMFL

I can't read McDermid or Shriver. Getting queasy in old age. And they are actually nasty people too , unlike Jo Rowling. Isn't the Statesman owned by some Russian oligarch? It's all getting nasty out there....

Rowling is a BAD person.

You don’t see Stephen King opening rape centres for women. I never heard about Thomas Harris running a charity for orphans all over the world and paying for overheads out of his own pocket so all donations went straight to helping the cause. When did Bram Stoker ever fall off any Forbes billionaires lists because he’d given away so much money?

It’s disgusting! Why can’t she stick to nice boy wizards and hippogriffs and such?

I would definitely buy that!

Interesting he went for JKR and not the many other female writers of murdering fiction. Anyway, it's a huge error on his part. Hopefully he learns from it.

So it's your basic insecure man driven to spiteful rage by a woman being successful and not doing as he approves? Having free will?

Loads of women think she's about the best person on earth - me included - I doubt she cares about this man or his mantrums. Which is probably why he's driven to such vitriol.

Ah, but what about the menz?

She's spending all her money on orphaned children and raped women. How DARE she!

Waaah! Mantrum alert!

Nick who?

Here's the Times account of the story.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/acb235a9-8060-47e3-802d-402113de89d3?shareToken=c2990929e034d8fdc7f5e46ea9d3345c

Man who supports misogynistic movement with strict adherence to sex stereotypes is shocked when a woman does not behave according to her sex. And then runs away when people give him a little pushback. JKR never deactivated no matter how much criticism she got. What a pathetic little man.

Bram Stoker is a very bad person. He could have used his talent for good. But instead he targeted the Undead , the most marginalised group in history. 🦇 😭

This. What did he think would happen? I can't get worked up about his daft article, but the fact he can't defend it - doesn't even try - and instead deletes his account entirely is just so telling. If that's what you want to put out into the world - stand by it. Don't run away.

What's he having to deal with? A few hours of people criticising the piece and asking for proof of some of his wilder claims? That he can't, or won't, and has just fecked off has shown an astounding lack of credibility.

As ever - come for the queen and you best not miss...

Wonder what his opinion is of Stephen king? Or the American psycho author Brett something? Their novels are/ can be much more nasty imo.

Oh Mr Hilton. What are little boys like you made of? 'Slugs and snails and puppy dog's tails'. You silly boy. You'll feel better when you've grown up a bit. I hope.

Silly boy.

Julie Bindel's* crowdfunder 😃

• I think it's the right Julie (I'm thinking of just putting 'Julie B' in future)

I can't get angry with the NS for this; should it only be pieces I agree with get printed? The review stands or falls on its own merits. I'm sure it'll be all over the letters page next week.

Miss Marple counted the stitches for the second time. Really, she mused to herself, she had surely knitted enough argyle socks for her godson Nick - the minor columnist and would be polymath - over the years to have more confidence in her ability to successfully turn a heel. But poor Nick, for all his earlier promise , was ,as he approached middle age, turning out to be a tetchy and snippy man , all too quick to criticise and fuss, especially, Miss Marple had observed, if the object of his criticism was a woman. So it behove her, for the sake of a more pleasant atmosphere, to ensure that socks knitted for Nick were as comfortable on his sensitive feet as she could make them. The weekend ahead was going to be a tricky one, without uncomfortable socks added to the mix.

It was not often that Jane Marple entertained in her own home, she no longer employed enough staff to deal with both cooking and cleaning to her own high standards (although fortunately she had instructed Maria, her cleaner, in the art of hospital corners ) and the local gastro pub was most obliging in providing delicious meals that only needed to be reheated in the microwave and decanted into the beautiful dinner service Jane had inherited from her dear mother. She was however, beginning to wonder if the combination of Nick staying for the weekend, and a dinner party planned for the Saturday evening where the guest of honour was a woman Miss Marple had long admired both for her literary skills and extraordinary humanitarian work, was actually ,on second thoughts, a good idea.

She chided herself for such a ridiculous thought, instead she should be looking forward to hosting and enjoying a civilised lively debate around her dinner table.

But just to be on the safe side she would make sure the good steak knives, the peen hammer, the box of rat poison, the decorative swords her father had been gifted by an eastern potentate, the fireside poker and her best letter opener were all safely locked away in the garden shed along with the now illegal weed killer she had so wisely bulk bought before the EU had banned it.

Jane Marple was a wise woman, well versed in the vagaries of human nature.

(inspired by a poster upthread who is also planning their own murder mystery!

So a woman worries about the things, men (mostly men) do to each other AND to innocent women, and a man writes she’s being “nasty”.
How about him focusing on the men who commit all the nasty crimes JKR is mirroring in her books.

Insecure

A rather strange word he used to describe JKR. She may be many things but I don't imagine insecure is one of them.

Accusations are admissions...

Brava to viques - very funny. You should send it in to the NS.

@duc748 I agree that all opinions should be printed and we definitely shouldn’t exist in echo chambers, but shouldn’t part of the condition of getting into print be that there’s some intelligence and critical thinking in the piece? I shouldn’t just be able to say “Ban jigsaws because they’re nasty and promote division and confusion and cause trauma to people unable to complete jigsaw puzzles, nasty wicked things”.

It’s ok - good, actually - to disagree, but what makes it interesting and worthwhile is evidence and thought, not just crying and repetition of non-truths, don’t you think?

@DataPestle Yes, sure. As I said, the piece stands or falls on its merits, or lack of them. but it's not going to hurt JKR, and the storm in a teacup might actually do a bit of good; it may well peak a few more NS readers.

Love that @viques. 👏👏

@viques 😅😅 Thank you. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

I agree that all opinions should be printed and we definitely shouldn’t exist in echo chambers, but shouldn’t part of the condition of getting into print be that there’s some intelligence and critical thinking in the piece?

I thought it was a particularly stupid and badly-written piece, and not just because I disagree with it. It seemed to conflate, either deliberately or accidentally, writing about nasty things with being a nasty person. It's a very peculiar mistake for a grown-up to make - to take just one of many examples, JG Ballard, who wrote very dark novels, was apparently a sweetheart in real life. The writer also appeared never to have read any other crime fiction, judging by his shock that a crime novel should contain references to murder, torture and child sexual abuse.

It's my considered opinion that Nick Hilton is a Whingeing, Inadequate, Middle-aged Patriarchist.