Can You Love the Art of a Person You Loathe?

“What ought we to do about great art made by bad men?” That’s the question that undergirds Claire Dederer’s new book “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma,” which explores whether and how we can love the works of people who’ve committed morally reprehensible acts. Dededer calls her book “an autobiography of the audience” — an effort to make sense of the complicated emotions we feel when engaging with the art of someone we loathe. We talk to Dederer about what it means — and whether it’s possible — to separate the art from the artist.