Which author's life most intrigues you?

I mentioned the "Great Rascal" Ned Buntline {real name: Edward Zane Carroll Judson} on another thread. Trust me: no one (and I mean absolutely no one) in American literary history matches this trouble maker in so far as having an interesting life.

http://www.deguellogunslingers.com/i...t/buntline.jpg

Joseph Conrad, Herman Melville, Stephan Crane, D.H. Lawrence, William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy.

How About Lord Byron? Too cliché?

D.H. Lawrence, William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy, Mary Shelly, The Brontes (all the sisters), Edith Wharton...geez....and so many more really....

but what is it that inspires us to query? my favorite writer- mr edgar allen poe-'s private life holds very little interest to me whereas i read all i canabout the beats and dylan. sometimes i am just reading the same things again in a different book. why is it that it is so selective?

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Originally Posted by AdoreroDio

Definitely I would have to say Jane Austen- a very sad but intriguing story to be sure and I must say she lived a sad but inspiring life.

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I don't know about "sad" - yes, she didn't marry or have kids, which was the conventional "happy ending" for women at that time, but, unlike many women of her time, she had a loving and supportive family who didn't think it out of place that a woman should read and write - Jane was granted full access to her father's library, and the plays and novels she wrote as a girl were performed/read before her whole family. She enjoyed a close, warm relationship with her sister as well. I recommend Claire Tomalin's biography of her, it's a real page-turner (at least for bio buffs like me).

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Originally Posted by Woland

Perhaps, but I doubt his life was very interesting. He lived in Wisconsin.

Christopher Marlowe was purported to be an interesting guy.

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Oh, Woland! I live in Wisconsin and am never bored! :lol: From what I hear, WI isn't the most exciting place in the world, but I suppose being interesting (or not) is largely dependent on a person's frame of mind...

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Originally Posted by Joreads

George Orwell where did the man get his ideas.

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um history? out of his window?

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Originally Posted by ThousandthIsle

Oh, Woland! I live in Wisconsin and am never bored! :lol: From what I hear, WI isn't the most exciting place in the world, but I suppose being interesting (or not) is largely dependent on a person's frame of mind...

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I agree with your last statement here. But I never understood the need to call Wisconsin boring. I like it here. :) I really don't see what is so bad about this place. :) I could name worse places, but I will remain silent on that topic. ;) I don't care to make any enemies. :p There are authors that I am interested in that happen to be from places that I don't think are too appealing (no, they are not my two main interests of Poe and Twain), but I still find the lives of these writers interesting. :)

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Originally Posted by Antiquarian

I know exactly what you mean. People say to me, "Oh, Ohio! Such an awful, boring place! What's in Ohio?" Plenty, really. And I'm a little southeast, so it's hilly, with lots of beautiful woods and farmland. It's really quite lovely. And in the city we have the touring cast of all the Broadway shows, the art gallery, the symphony, restaurants galore, the largest college campus in the US, the second largest Barnes and Noble in the world, etc., etc.

I've traveled so much, to every continent but Antarctica (and I don't want to go there). I can tell you, if someone dropped me down in the middle of Sacramento, California, I'd swear I was in Ohio. Even the farm country just outside of Milan, Italy looked just like Ohio.

I think every place has it charms. The only thing I'd change here is to make the climate a lot warmer. :) And have a major league baseball team. We have a minor league one.

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Well, we have all of the things that you mentioned AND a major league baseball team! ;) But I can't discusss that team because they just upset me! :mad: Anyway......

What I like is that since I live in the city I have access to all of the things that a city has to offer, but then we aren't that far from the country and farmland and quaint, little towns. I really enjoy that fact. I like that I can participate in all of the things that a city has to offer, and when I want to get away from city life, I can easily get to some of the smaller towns and countryside around here. I think the scenery is absolutely beautiful in Wisconsin. I always say that the reason I liked Missouri so much was because it was so green, and full of trees and lakes, that it reminded me of Wisconsin. :) I loved that similarity because I love that Wisconsin is like that. I am thinking about going back there again in a couple of weeks. I loved it there and I love it here. :)

If there was one thing I would change, it would involve this city. I would appreciate a better clean-up job when it came to plowing the snow! That is my major complaint. Other than that, I am fine with things here. :)

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Originally Posted by Antiquarian

I've traveled so much, to every continent but Antarctica (and I don't want to go there). I can tell you, if someone dropped me down in the middle of Sacramento, California, I'd swear I was in Ohio. Even the farm country just outside of Milan, Italy looked just like Ohio.

I think every place has it charms. The only thing I'd change here is to make the climate a lot warmer. :) And have a major league baseball team. We have a minor league one.

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That's one of the several reasons why I hate travelling, every place looks the same, and we all know that humans are generally the same. Now it's even worse; I'll think: Oh no, this looks like Ohio. :)

Yeah I completely forgot to mentioned Brontes (Anne, Charlotte, Emily as well as the brother who helped them with works and could write with both hands equally well...what was his name...something like Branwell oh well), Sylvia Plath (really depressing) and D.H. Lawrence and Edgar Allan Poe. All added to my list now. Hope I haven't forgotten any now.