Writers Who Disowned Their Own Work

Being a published writer is a very big deal; well, at least for most writers. They often look forward to sharing their work with the world, well, after disliking and sometimes even hating their work during their countless drafts and having doubts about the characters, plot and the ending for instance. So there’s a lot of pressure. Pressure which often fades after their work has been accepted by publishers and is published. What’s strange, but not rare, is that some authors still regret their work even after it has been published. In this article we will look at some writers who disowned their work and find out why.\r \r 1. Franz Kafka\r \r Kafka was a prolific writer who disowned most of his work. He was plagued by self-doubt and questioned his ability after much of his work was rejected and not published. Kafka destroyed about ninety percent of his writing. Before his passing however, Kafka asked Max Brod, his friend and literary executor, to destroy what was left of his work but Brod refused. After his passing, Brod published several of Kafka’s books such as The Trial, The Castle and Amerika. Kafka’s work, though published posthumously, was well received by readers. It’s a shame he didn’t get to see it for himself.\r \r 2. William Powell\r \r William Powell is the writer of The Anarchist Cookbook. Powell explained that the novel was a misdirected outcome of his adolescent rage at the thought of being recruited and forced to serve in the Vietnam War, a fight which he didn’t support. The book emphasized that using violence to effect political change is permissible; however, Powell no longer supported this thinking after some time. He didn’t want his book to be reprinted and sold but his publisher owned rights to the book. The most Powell could do was to appeal to people not to purchase the book.\r \r 3. Anthony Burgess\r \r A Clockwise Orange is one of the novels written by Anthony Burgess. He was frustrated that his reputation was so deeply connected to this piece of writing which he claimed to have taken only three weeks to write. So Burgess rejected the novel. To make matters worse, Burgess believed that the essence of his work was changed by Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film version. Burgess ended up loathing his work because the film glorified violence.  \r \r 4. Philip Pullman\r \r The Haunted Storm, written by Philip Pullman and published in 1972, was centered on violence and death in a small village. He was the joint winner of the New English Library’s Young Writers Award that year. This was Pullman’s first novel and should have been his pride and joy but he disowned the book explaining that it wasn’t a good book despite winning the award. Well, it certainly wasn’t his best work, but his publishers failed to realize that it really wasn’t as good as they thought. Pullman has declined discussion of the book and has removed it from his Who’s Who listing. \r \r 5. Alan Moore\r \r Alan Moore is a veteran writer of comics who has disowned much of his work for DC Comics. His decision had nothing to do with his actual writing and everything to do with the controversy between him and his publisher. According to Moore, DC Comics repeatedly engaged in bad faith. They promised Moore to pass on the copyright of the books to him when they went out of print, but all the while they planned on keeping the book in print forever. Moore cut ties with the publishing company and disowned his work such as the bestselling graphic novel, Watchmen, although he is still known as the author. He has also expressed frustration with how his past comics have been handled as movie adaptations.\r \r  \r \r