Monday Musings: Publishing Posthumously

Even after her death in 1947, Willa Cather continues to be recognized as one of America's most prominent women writers and probably most notable for her stories, My Antonia and O Pioneers! In her final Will she had explicitly forbidden the publication of her personal letters.  However, in a recent interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, the now co-editors of Cather's published personal letters, Andrew Jewel and Janis Stout claim that Cather's letters were preserved with such care with the sole intention of being published "and  there was definitely the sense that there were precious materials that, one day, the world would want to see." You can find this complete interview here.

I'm finding this a bit disturbing and this is certainly not the first instance of posthumous publication.  If Willa Cather herself had explicitly stated in her Last Will And Testament that she did not want her personal letters published, shouldn't we continue to observe that final wish?   I could accept these items being placed into a Museum, perhaps The Smithsonian, as a testament to American literary history but certainly not published for the world to read and scrutinize.  Yes,these letters are a tremendous discovery and add personal insight into the life of an amazing woman and writer, but should we not respect a person's privacy and most all, her or his final wishes?  This debate about posthumous publication has been occurring for decades in the halls of academia and beyond as critics continue to argue an author's true intentions.  I think in this case it was made all too clear that these letters were not to be published.  What are your thoughts?  Does the public have a right to disregard an author's final wishes simply based on a desire to know the author in a more personal manner?