Quote - Cautionary tales by the Bros Grimm have long had literary and artistic value. They're stories that represent a hundred cultures, the results of the Grimm's collecting them from every source they could.

If Lewis Carroll -- the writer of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, etc. -- were alive today: he'd be in jail.  Among other things, he liked to take pictures of little girls in the nude, etc..  He considered the young ones to be his "special friends", and he appeared to have no interest in romantic relationships with adult women.

So, yes -- it's entirely possible that certain "great works" of classical literature were penned by vile men.  Artistic talent -- along with other inherent personal traits such as a high IQ or a large dose of highly attractive & charming, Smilin' Jack charisma (à la Ted Bundy)  -- can exist side-by-side with the depths of the blackest evil in the same person.

I recall the (true) story of a convicted violent rapist who later heroically saved the life of a child from drowning -- at great personal risk to his own life.  Human beings are filled with such internal contradictions of character.  It's the way that we are as a race.

Something To Do At 3:00AM