The Cat Person debate shows how fiction writers use real life does matter

Kristen Roupenian's viral 2017 short story is again being debated, now over her alleged use of details drawn from life. The questions this raises do not have neat answers

Since its publication in the New Yorker nearly four years ago, Kristen Roupenian's Cat Person remains the most discussed short story ever to have hit the internet. Roupenian's portrayal of an encounter between a young woman called Margot and an older man called Robert rode the wave of the #MeToo movement, and as a result readers often seem to use the work as a vessel for their own projections. The story provoked widespread anger among some men for its negative depiction of Robert, the man who shows his true colours at the end of the story, and whose wounded reaction to Margot's rejection resonated with many women.

Related: Why is Cat Person' going viral again?