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10 Famous Alcoholic Authors

Jul 17 2015

Here are 10 famous alcoholic authors and their favourite beverages:

Truman Capote

(September 30th 1924 – August 25th 1984)

Capote was a prolific writer of short stories, novels, plays and nonfiction, whose accomplishments include at least 20 films and television dramas having been produced from his works. He was a notorious heavy drinker. While writing In Cold Blood, Capote would allegedly have a double martini before lunch, another with lunch and a stinger after. Capote’s heavy drinking was to continue. He died aged 59 from liver cancer.

Favourite Beverage: Martini (double)/Screwdriver

Charles Bukowski (August 16th 1920 – March 9th 1994)

Bukowski was a novelist, poet and short-story writer, who is regarded as being the ‘laureate of American lowlife’. He started drinking at 13 and never looked back. In his younger years he was a bar frequenter, but in later years he preferred to drink at home. Though by his own admission he suffered three hundred hangovers a year, Bukowski never quit the habit. Despite this excess he lived to 73.

Favourite Beverage: Whiskey

Dorothy Parker (August 22nd 1893 – June 7th 1967)

Dorothy Parker was renowned for her sardonic wit and writing abilities. A lifelong heavy drinker, she once famously said about her favourite drink martini: ‘I like to have a martini, Two at the very most. After three I’m under the table, After four I’m under my host.’ Little has been documented about Parker’s drinking habits, perhaps because as a woman her alcohol excess was never glorified.

Favourite Beverage: Martini

Jack Kerouac (March 12th 1922 – October 21st 1969)

American novelist, writer, poet and artist Jack Kerouac was a member of the Beat Generation that also included William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Kerouac was a very heavy drinker. The author was acutely aware of his drinking problem, often expressing a desire to quit or at least moderate his habit. In his book, Big Sur, Kerouac wrote, ‘Don’t drink to get drunk. Drink to enjoy life.’

Favourite Beverage: Margarita

James Joyce(February 2nd 1882 – January 13th 1941)

Irish novelist and poet James Augustine Aloysius Joyce is regarded as one of the most influential writers of the modernist avant-garde. Joyce was a notorious binge drinker, who was adamant that he could not write as well without the aid of alcohol. During his time living in Paris Joyce was a drinking buddy of Ernest Hemingway. The slightly-built Joyce was said to often start bar fights and then hide behind the much bigger Hemingway.

Favourite Beverage: Wine

Hunter S. Thompson (July 18th 1937 – February 20th 2005)

The father of Gonzo journalism was an iconic figure in the counter-culture. Hunter S. Thompson first became famous internationally for his book, Hells Angels (1967). The author was known for his lifelong heavy use of alcohol. The writer drank a wide range of alcoholic beverages. Never one for the vagaries of waiters, Thompson would typically order 3 to 6 drinks at a time.

Favourite Beverage: Wild Turkey

Ernest Hemingway(July 21st 1899 – July 2nd 1961)

Ernest Hemingway is remembered as a pillar of American literature, a writer with a unique style, who won both The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1953) and The Nobel Prize in Literature (1954). The iconic writer was a notorious drinker for most of his life, though he did not write whilst under the influence. A number of alcohol related quotes have been attributed to Hemingway, including, ‘Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk.’

Favourite Beverage: Mojito

William Faulkner(September 25th 1897 – July 6th 1962)

William Cuthbert Faulkner to give his full name is one of the most important writers in American history. A lifelong heavy drinker, Faulkner, in contrast to many writers, liked to write under the influence – a bottle of whiskey, preferably bourbon was generally within arms reach. The author was notorious for his binge drinking and it was fortunate that he had a remarkable capacity for recovery. Faulkner once said, ‘Civilization begins with distillation.’

Favourite Beverage: Whiskey

Scott Fitzgerald (September 24th 1896 – December 21st 1940)

Scott Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, who is widely accepted as being one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. Alcohol and alcoholics hold a prominent place in much of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing, which is perhaps not surprising considering the author was an alcoholic from college days to his death from an alcohol related heart attack aged 44.

Favourite Beverage: Gin Rickey

John Cheever (May 27th 1912 – June 18th 1982)

Sometimes referred to as ‘the Chekhov of the suburbs’, John Cheever is recognised as being one of the most important short story writers of the 20th Century. He also wrote four novels. At the height of his literary career Cheever began a 20 year struggle with alcoholism. He did not admit to having a problem with alcohol until he was sent to a rehabilitation centre in 1972. Cheever managed to quit the habit.

Favourite Beverage: Gin

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Vienna Part 2 – My Whistle-Stop Tour

Jul 10 2015

Last week’s post was dedicated to my tour of Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna. This week my book/author related weekly blog post sabbatical concludes with Vienna part 2 – My Whistle-Stop Tour.

The day started with a visit to Schönbrunn Palace, the Baroque, 1,441 room, former imperial residence (see below).

No photography is permitted inside the palace. Below is a picture of the water feature in Schönbrunn’s back garden.

Last week you saw Mozart’s grave. Here is his statue. Vienna is also home to Mozart’s house, Mozart key rings and Mozart chocolates.

The Austrians love schnitzels. It was a good thing that I resisted the Mozart chocolates during the morning’s sightseeing, or I would have struggled to finish my lunch.

Below is a one of the city’s quaint shopping arcades.

I stopped for a quick beer before continuing with the sightseeing. One would have turned into two, were it not for the fact that time was ticking.

Next up was St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

You are allowed to take photographs in St. Stephen’s.

Below is a statue. Of what I can’t tell you. I was in too much of a hurry to get to the Belvedere to stop and find out.

If you like Baroque palaces then Vienna is the place to be. Below is the Belvedere. Not the best photo I must confess. I was experimenting with the panoramic option on my iPhone camera. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

On entering the palace and taking a right, I was met by the sight of this spectacular ceiling, which was painted by the Italian painter Carlo Carlone (1686-1775).

In the main hall, I was able to appreciate how art has evolved since the Renaissance era. Below is your esteemed author standing in front of ‘The Incredible Hulk and Friends’.

No trip to Vienna would be complete without a visit to the Café Sacher (inside Hotel Sacher), and this is where I headed for afternoon tea. The Original Sacher-Torte (see below) has been the world’s most famous cake since 1832. At least this is what Hotel Sacher claim. Evidently no one has told them about Bakewell Tarts. The Original Sacher-Torte recipe is a closely guarded secret. My guess is that it has chocolate and orange in it.

What better way to end a day of sightseeing than dining on Tafelspitz. Tafelspitz is generally considered to be the Austrian national dish. It is boiled beef in broth served with horseradish.

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My Tour of Zentralfriedhof

Jul 03 2015

I am fascinated by cemeteries. Previously on this blog I have written posts about the Brompton Cemetery in London and Recoleta in Buenos Aires.

The protagonist in my second novel, the satirical black comedy Necropolis, works for the burials and cemeteries department in his local council. Necropolis features a number of fictional cemeteries.

This week’s blog post is dedicated to my recent trip to Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna. At 620 acres (2.5 km sq) Zentralfriedhof is one of the World’s largest cemeteries. I was unaware how large the cemetery was when I entered the facility through one of its side entrances. The plan of the cemetery below gives some indication of its size. Zentralfriedhof is a multi-faith facility that caters for a range of Christian denominations, as well as those of a Jewish and Muslim persuasion.

Here are some graves.

This was the first time that I had come across deaths pending (see below). Rather macabre perhaps, but there’s nothing like being prepared.

Nikolic really liked his Mercedes.

It was beginning to dawn on me just how large Zentralfriedhof is. The below photo is of one of the cemetery’s many avenues.

I was nearing exhaustion by the time I made it to the main entrance, where I came across the cemetery’s primary mode of transport (see below). Warning: Don’t touch, they bite.

A horse-drawn carriage proved to be an excellent way to view the burial facility, if not a particularly economical one. Below is the cemetery’s church, St. Charles Borromeo.

Zentralfriedhof contains a diverse range of burial receptacles (see below).

Unlike the other Austrians I had the privilege to converse with, my carriage driver, who appeared to have the personality of a corpse, spoke virtually no English. The linguistic barrier made me concerned that I was going to miss out on the cemetery’s Musiker (musician) section. I contemplated how I was going to utilise my 40-50 words of German to express this concern. The plan was to go with – ‘Halten Beethoven grab bitte’. I was poised to utter this when the carriage drew to a halt in the Musiker section. The below is a picture of the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Austrian composers.

This is Schubert’s grave.

And Mozart’s.

Here is Beethoven’s.

I forgot all about Johann Strauss. He is also interred here.

The newly deceased continue to be tempted to Zentralfriedhof on a daily basis. And for good reason. But at 300 – 1,500 Euros per annum (standard grave site), they’ll need more than a Co-operative funeral care plan to cover the cost.

I would highly recommend Zentralfriedhof to anyone planning to visit Vienna. Below is a memorial plinth at its main entrance commemorating Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I.

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10 Famous Self-Educated Authors

Jun 26 2015

This week sees the latest instalment in my famous author series. It is dedicated to famous authors who received little or no formal education.

The following 10 authors were largely self-taught:

Jane Austen(December 16th 1775 – July 18th 1817)

Jane Austen lived in an era when women’s education was not viewed as a priority. In addition to her own self-education in the form of voracious reading, she received some tuition from her father and older brothers. By her teenage years Austen was experimenting with different literary forms.

Mark Twain(November 30th 1835 – April 21st 1910)

Mark Twain once famously said, ‘I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.’ The iconic author and humorist was forced to leave school and find a job at the age of 12 following the death of his father. Twain found employment as an apprentice at the Hannibal Courier.

Jack London(January 12th 1876 – November 22nd 1916)

Jack London received little in the way of formal schooling. He started working odd jobs when he was 10. At 13 he was working 12 to 18 hour days at Hickmott’s Cannery. London credited the Victorian novel Signa, which he found and read when he was 9, as sowing the seed for his later literary success.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman(July 3rd 1860 – August 17th 1935)

The father of writer and feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman left when she was a small child, leaving her family destitute. Gilman taught herself to read at the age of 5. Later she frequented public libraries. Gilman also attended a number of schools, in addition to studying via correspondence, but only up to the age of 15.

Maxim Gorky(March 28th 1868 – June 18th 1936)

Iconic Russian author Maxim Gorky was brought up in relative poverty by his grandmother after being orphaned at a young age. At the age of 12 he ran away from home and travelled across the Russian Empire for 5 years, living as a tramp for much of this time.

H.P. Lovecraft(August 20th 1890 – March 15th 1937)

Renowned horror writer H.P. Lovecraft suffered from ill health as a child, resulting in him rarely attending school until the age of 8, and missing a considerable amount of school after that. Lovecraft used the time to read prodigiously, as well as studying astronomy and chemistry.

Edith Wharton(January 24th 1862 – August 11th 1937)

Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer received little formal education. She started writing poetry at a young age and even tried to write a novel when she was only 11. At the age of 15 her translation of the German poem Was die Steine Erzählen earned her $50.

H.G. Wells(September 21st 1866 – August 13th 1946)

Wells left school when he was only 11. This was because his professional cricket playing father had fractured his thigh. The loss of income meant Wells had to take an apprenticeship, which he despised. The experience inspired 2 of his novels, The Wheels of Chance and Kipps.

George Bernard Shaw(July 26th 1856 –November 2nd 1950)

Dublin born playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw attended school irregularly as a child. By the age of 15 he had quit and was working as a junior clerk. He once said, ‘Schools and schoolmasters, as we have them today, are not popular as places of education and teachers, but rather prisons and turnkeys in which children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning their parent.’

Doris Lessing(October 22nd 1919 – November 17th 2013)

British novelist, poet, playwright and short story writer Doris Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007. She attended an all-girls school in Salisbury (now Harare) until the age of 14. The following year she left home and found work as a nursemaid. During this time she continued her self-education and started writing.

My Top 5 Novellas

Jun 19 2015

This week’s blog post is dedicated to my top 5 novellas. For anyone not familiar with this literary form, a novella is a fictional, prose narrative that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Novellas are generally about 20,000 – 50,000 words.

Here are my 5 favourite novellas in ascending order.

5 – The Legend of the Holy Drinker by Joseph Roth

This is a compact and compassionate novella about an alcoholic tramp. Its author, Joseph Roth, succumbed to a premature alcohol related death shortly after finishing this allegorical tale about seeking redemption.

My Review: The story is about an alcoholic tramp by the name of Andreas, who lives under bridges of the river Seine. Andreas finds himself in luck when he is given two hundred francs by a stranger, … (More)

4 – The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

This is a carefully constructed and evocative novella written in Hemingway’s trademark simple, concise, economy of prose style. It is a memorable story that I would strongly recommend to anyone who hasn’t read it.

My Review: Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cuba, this is a tale about an old man, a boy and a colossal Marlin. The old man, Santiago, is a veteran fisherman, who is on a run of bad luck having been eighty-four days without catching a fish. (More)

3 – The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Unlike most of Steinbeck’s novels, The Pearl is set in the Gulf of Mexico, not the Salinas Valley. It is a captivating and disturbing parable about the darker side of human nature that illustrates how riches can be illusory.

My Review: Steinbeck’s novella, The Pearl, is a story about a destitute Mexican pearl diver by the name of Kino, who leads a simple, predictable existence with his wife Juana and baby son Coyotito. One day … (More)

2 – Junky by William S. Burroughs

Junky is a semi-autobiographical novella that adeptly captures the obsessive nature of addiction. Its detached journalistic approach is in stark contrast to the rambling, stream of consciousness style found in some of Burroughs’s later works.

My Review: Set in 1950s America and Mexico, Junky is a confessional novella about drug addiction. Its protagonist Bill Lee chronicles his drug-centred existence, which entails searching for his daily fix, scoring, and … (More)

1 – One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Whilst the morose subject matter (Gulags) will not appeal to everyone, this reader, an avid Solzhenitsyn fan, is of the opinion that One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the best books ever written.

My Review: Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is a former POW serving a 10 year term in a Gulag on the Kazakh steppe for being a spy. He is innocent. The book chronicles a single day of his existence, beginning with a 5 a.m. reveille. (More)

10 Best-Sellers Initially Rejected

Jun 12 2015

This week’s blog post is dedicated to best-selling books that were initially rejected by publishers. It is a subject that I thought might interest my fellow authors and book lovers. The following 10 books are presented in chronological order.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (1898) – This science fiction classic is about an unnamed protagonist and his younger brother, who are in London when the Earth is invaded by aliens. It was initially snubbed by a number of publishers, including one who wrote in the rejection letter, ‘An endless nightmare. I think the verdict would be ‘Oh don’t read that horrid book.’’

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (1908) – This classic recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan sent to live with a middle-aged brother and sister on their farm. 5 publishers initially snubbed it, and it was only 2 years after this setback that the author removed it from her hatbox and resubmitted it.

Dubliners by James Joyce (1914) – Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories whose primary theme is epiphany. Joyce began trying to find a publisher for his controversial book in 1905. He submitted Dubliners 18 times to 15 publishers without success. His relentless perseverance finally paid off when Grant Richards published it in 1914.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence (1928) – This story about a relationship between a gamekeeper and an upper-class woman was printed privately by its author in Florence after it was rejected by a host of publishers, due to its perceived scandalous subject matter and content. Lady Chatterley’s Lover was not published openly the UK until 1960.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936) – Set during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, Gone with the Wind is about Scarlett O’Hara, the daughter of a plantation owner. This, the only book published by Mitchell during her lifetime was shunned 38 times by publishers before eventually being accepted.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954) – This dystopian novel is about a group of boys stranded on a deserted island, who attempt to govern themselves. Lord of the Flies was rejected 20 times before Faber and Faber accepted it. One of the rejection letters condemned the book as, ‘An absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.’

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955) – Lolita is a controversial novel about a man’s obsession with a 12-year-old girl. It was rebuffed by numerous publishers because of its contentious subject matter. The book was eventually published in France by Olympia Press. Lolita was fourth on Modern Library’s 1998 list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.

Carrie by Stephen King (1974) – Stephen King’s first published novel is about a bullied high school girl who utilises her telekinetic powers to get revenge on her tormenters. Numerous publishers rejected the book. One publisher wrote in the rejection letter, ‘We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.’

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001) – This fantasy adventure novel is about an Indian boy who survives for 227 days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker. Life of Pi was rejected by 5 London publishers. In 2002 it won the The Man Booker Prize.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2003) – Dan Brown’s seminal work is a mystery/detective novel that explores an alternative religious history. Prior to its publication by Doubleday it was rejected by another publisher, who pre-empting the sentiments of many of its readers, allegedly stated in the rejection letter, ‘It is so badly written.’

7 Famous Works by Anonymous Authors

Jun 05 2015

Many authors have published anonymously through history, including Jane Austen, whose books were all published anonymously during her lifetime. However, I have only included literary works whose authors are either unknown or we know nothing about.

Here are 7 anonymously published works. They are presented in chronological order.

Beowulf

Set in Scandinavia, Beowulf is an Old English epic poem that was written between the 8th and early 9th century. It is regarded as one of the most important works of Old English literature, and may well be the oldest surviving long poem in Old English. The author of Beowulf was an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, who is commonly referred to as the ‘Beowulf poet’.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

This late 14th century Middle English chivalric romance is one of the most famous of the Arthurian stories. Written in stanzas of alliterative verse, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was influenced by Irish, Welsh, English and French traditions. The poem survives as a single manuscript, which also includes 3 narrative poems. To this day the author remains a mystery.

Lazarillo de Tormes

La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades is a Spanish novella, which was published in 3 cities in 1554. The novella’s content was regarded as heretical due to its open criticism of the Catholic Church, and this is most likely the reason that it was published anonymously. Various authors have been attributed to this important work.

The Romance of Lust

The Romance of Lust is a Victorian erotic novel that was published in 4 volumes between 1873-1876. The novel’s protagonist is Charlie Roberts, a man with a voracious sexual appetite. There has been much debate over who the author of this controversial book was. The general consensus is that William Simpson Potter or Edward Sellon, a well-known Victorian author of erotic novels, most likely wrote it.

Novel with Cocaine

Novel with Cocaine is a nihilistic and philosophical novel about adolescence and addiction. Since the time of its publication in book form there has been intense speculation over who wrote it. Many believed that it was Vladimir Nabokov, but he vehemently denied being the author. The real author is thought to be Mark Levi, a Russian émigré, who posted the manuscript to the Parisian journal Numbers in 1934.

Click here to read my review.

Diary of an Oxygen Thief

Diary of an Oxygen Thief is a Dutch novel, published in 2006, professing to be an autobiographical account of an Irish advertising executive living first in London and later in America, where he suffers from culture shock. The book, which was written anonymously, was published in Amsterdam by NLVI. Although Diary of an Oxygen Thief has become extremely popular the identity of its author continues to be a mystery.

O: A Presidential Novel

O: A Presidential Novel is a fictional account about the 2012 U.S. presidential race. Prior to publication, its publisher Simon & Schuster contacted many writers and journalists, requesting that they decline to comment if asked whether they were the anonymous author. The book was purportedly written by someone who ‘has been in the room with Obama’. The individual’s identity remains unknown.

11 Posthumously Published Novels

May 29 2015

This week’s blog post is dedicated to posthumously published novels. They are presented in chronological order.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (1817)

Northanger Abbey was Jane Austen’s first novel. It is thought that it was written circa 1798-99. Although the book was sold to Crosby & Co. in 1803 they decided against publication. The book was later sold back to Jane’s brother Henry. Northanger Abbey was finally published in December 1817, 5 months after its author’s demise.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (1870)

When England’s most famous author Charles Dickens died in June 1870, his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, remained unfinished. As a result when it was published later that year the book’s killer was not revealed. The general consensus is that John Jasper, Edwin’s uncle, is the murderer.

Bouvard et Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert (1881)

Gustave Flaubert never finished his satirical novel Bouvard et Pécuchet, despite starting work on it in 1872. Flaubert intended that it would be his seminal work, eclipsing his most acclaimed novel, Madame Bovary. However, when the book was finally published a year after the author’s death in 1880 it was not well received.

The Ivory Tower by Henry James (1917)

At the time of his death in 1916 Henry James was still working on The Ivory Tower. The book was published without an ending the year after his demise. It went on to receive considerable praise for its criticism of excessive wealth and laissez faire capitalism, although some criticised its dense prose and slow pace.

You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe (1940)

When Thomas Wolfe died in 1938 he left behind a vast unpublished script titled, The October Fair. His editor transformed the manuscript into the novel You Can’t Go Home Again. It is about an author who writes a book about small town America. The book goes down so badly in his hometown that he is unable to return home.

Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf (1941)

Between the Acts is a novel about a festival play in an English village, set shortly before the outbreak of WWII. It is replete with innuendo and hidden meanings. After finishing the manuscript Woolf entered a deep depression. On the 28th March 1941 she drowned herself in the River Ouse. The novel was published 4 months later.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)

John Kennedy Toole was unsuccessful in getting A Confederacy of Dunces published during his lifetime, which resulted in him becoming very depressed, culminating in his suicide in 1969. In 1980, 11 years after his death, his mother succeeded in getting it published. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981.

Gather Yourselves Together by Philip K Dick (1994)

Philip K Dick is one of the most famous science fiction writers of all time. However, despite writing Gather Yourselves Together early in his writing career, it was not published until 12 years after his death. Publishers had initially refused it due to the length of the manuscript (481 pages).

Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man by Joseph Heller (2000)

Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man is about an aging writer attempting to write a novel that would emulate his earlier efforts. An apt subject matter considering that Heller’s most famous work, Catch-22, was published in 1961. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man was published posthumously in 2000, the year after his death.

The Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson (2005-2007)

At the time of his death in 2004 aged 50, Larsson’s Millennium Series were unpublished manuscripts sitting in his house. The trilogy saw the author achieve posthumous fame. In 2008 Larsson was the second highest selling author in the world. To date over 60 million copies of the Millennium Series have been sold worldwide.

The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov (2009)

Nabokov had requested that the novel he was working on at the time of his death in 1977 be destroyed. In 2008 Nabokov’s son announced plans to publish it, and the following year, 32 years after his father’s demise, The Original of Laura was published. Many castigated the book, arguing that it was in no fit state to be published.

7 Famous Controversial Novels

May 22 2015

Here are 7 famous controversial novels from the last 250 years. They are presented in chronological order:

Fanny Hill by John Cleland (1748-1749)

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure or Fanny Hill as it is popularly known was published in 2 parts in 1748 & 1749. Written during its author’s stint in a debtor’s prison, Fanny Hill is considered to be the first erotic novel in the English language. It is one of the most banned and prosecuted books of all time. In November 1749 Cleland was arrested and charged with ‘corrupting the King’s subjects’.

Candide by Voltaire (1759)

Candide is a satirical novella that was regarded as being highly controversial at the time of its publication. Its author, the ardent critic Voltaire, not only criticised the prevailing philosophical ideology of his era, optimism, but also attacked the greed and hypocrisy within the state and church. The religious and secular authorities denounced the book, and it continued to cause controversy into the 20th Century.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life Among the Lowly as it is also known was deemed at the time of its publication as a scathing attack on the slave-owning South. The book was so reviled in the South that it spawned a raft of what came to be known as Anti-Tom literature. The book is regarded as having been instrumental in stirring the abolitionist cause that was to culminate in The Civil War.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence (1928)

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a fictional account of a married woman’s affair with her gamekeeper. Although published, it was heavily censored due to its perceived pornographic content. In 1960, 30 years after Lawrence’s death, Penguin attempted to publish the original version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, but was forced to go to trial because of the ‘Obscene Publications Act’ of the previous year. The book was banned in the America until 1959.

Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (1959)

Burrough’s seminal work, the non-linear Naked Lunch, is a sardonic, dark and humorous work that takes the form of a series of loosely linked vignettes. It draws on Burroughs’s own experiences living as a drug addict in the U.S., Mexico and Tangier. The book was viewed as being so scandalous at the time of its publication that it underwent a court case under U.S. obscenity laws.

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (1988)

The title of The Satanic Verses was deemed offensive by many Muslims, as it refers to a number of allegedly pagan verses, temporarily included in the Qur’an and later removed. Some pious Muslims were also displeased that the prophet Abraham was referred to as a ‘bastard’, in addition to various other insertions. In January 1989 the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a Fatwa against the author. To this day Rushdie receives death threats.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (1991)

American Psycho is a satire of the yuppy culture of the 1980s that brought Easton Ellis instant fame. It is about a young, psychopathic Wall Street financier. The book caused outrage when it was published due to its explicit violence, sexual content and perceived misogynistic themes. Its author received numerous death threats. American Psycho was deemed harmful to minors in Germany and sold shrink-wrapped in Australia.

My Top 4 Transgressive Authors

May 15 2015

Definition: Transgressive literature is a genre that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways. Protagonists in Transgressive literature are in one form or other rebelling against society. Due to this they may appear to be anti-social, nihilistic or even sociopathic.

These are my top 4 Transgressive authors. Click on the book links to read my reviews.

Charles Bukowski

August 16th 1920 – March 9th 1994

Heavily influenced by his home city of Los Angeles, Bukowski wrote about disillusionment, alcohol consumption, women, a loathing of authority and the dehumanising nature of low-level work, all presented in his unique visceral writing style. His seminal work, Post Office, is a semi-autobiographical account of his years of drudgery at the post office. Bukowski is a cult figure, whose writing remains popular to this day.

My Favourite: Post Office

Would also recommend: Ham On Rye & Pulp

Bret Easton Ellis

Born: March 7th 1964

Disillusioned, nihilistic and even sociopathic characters are the staple of cult author Bret Easton Ellis’s books. His most famous work, the infamous American Psycho, caused outrage even before it was published, as many in the literary establishment were disgusted with the sexual violence and what some viewed as the misogynistic nature of its contents. American Psycho went on to become one of the most influential books of the nineties and secured the author his legacy as an important literary figure.

My Favourites: American Psycho & Less Than Zero

Chuck Palahniuk

Born: February 21st 1962

Palahniuk has constantly courted controversy with the content of his books. Fight Club, which remains to this day his most celebrated effort, was viewed as extremely controversial when the film version was released in 1999, only six months after the Columbine school shootings. Palahniuk’s dark and disturbing fiction has continued to scandalise ever since. His book Haunted is often voted in polls as one of the most disturbing books ever written.

My Favourite: Fight Club

Would also recommend: Damned, Haunted & Rant

William S. Burroughs

February 5th 1914 – August 2nd 1997

William S. Burroughs, was a controversial character with a penchant for rent boys and heroin, who rebelled against the social norms of his era by writing about disillusionment, drugs and homosexuality. Arguably his most famous book, the non-linear Naked Lunch was viewed as so scandalous at the time of its publication that it underwent a court case under U.S. obscenity laws.

My Favourite: Junky

Would also recommend: Queer

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