Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#76: Maxim Gorky
Born Alexei Maximovich Peshkov in 1868, Gorky became an orphan at the age of 9. The unhappiness he felt at home prompted him to run away when he was 12. Partially raised by the grandmother that he sought out, he traveled throughout the Russian Empire on foot, changing jobs as necessary.
In 1879, Gorky witnessed a pogram in Nizhny Novgorod. The shock of such violence stayed with him well through his adult life. This motivated Gorky to work with the Liberation of Labour group and in October, 1889, he was arrested and accused of spreading revolutionary propaganda. Although he was later released because they did not have enough evidence to gain a conviction, the Okhrana kept him under police surveillance.
His first short story, Makar Chudra, was published in a Tiflis newspaper under the name of Maxim Gorky (Maxim the Bitter). . At the heart of all his work was a belief in the inherent worth and potential of the human person (личность, ‘lichnost’). His writing often counterposed individuals, aware of their natural dignity and inspired by energy and will, with the people who succumbed to the degrading conditions of life around them. As a self-described “restless man,” Gorky struggled to resolve his contradictory feelings of faith and skepticism, love of life and disgust at the vulgarity and pettiness of the human world.
In 1902, Gorky was elected to the Imperial Academy of Literature. Czar Nicholas II was furious at the decision and worked to cancel this election. When news that the Academy had followed the Tsar’s orders and overruled Gorky, several writers resigned in protest. Later that year, the statutes of the Academy were changed to give Nicholas II the power to approve the list of candidates before they came up for election.
Gorky thus spent many years living on the island of Capri in an effort to escape the increasingly oppressive political environment in Russia. While he eventually returned to his homeland, the need for freedom never left him nor his works.
Maxim Gorky died of a heart attack on 18th June, 1936. Rumours began circulating that Stalin had arranged for him to be murdered. This story was given some support when Genrikh Yagoda, the head of the NKVD at the time of his death, was successfully convicted of Gorky’s murder in 1938.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#77: Sinclair Lewis
Born in 1885, Lewis was known as being an ungainly child. He was tall, incredibly thin, suffered from acne, and was particularly unathletic. His lonely childhood was punctuated with few friends and several unsuccessful attempts at running away to join the Spanish-American War.
Lewis attended Oberlin Academy and Yale University, yet ended up taking several years away from education in order to travel throughout Panama. It was not until after he graduated that he was able to start publishing his written work. These romantic popular stories were often throw-away pieces for magazines.
His first serious novel, “Our Mr Wrenn,” was published in 1914. This, as well as his subsequent three novels, was unsuccessful.
Lewis finally achieved literary recognition with his work “Main Street” in 1920. This achievement pushed publishing houses to next accept “Babbitt,” another popular work that struck the heart of American consumerist culture. It was these two works that won Lewis the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930, for ”his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters.”
Lewis suffered from alcoholism in his later years, moving in and out of rehabilitation centers with alarming regularity. Yet due to the lack of desire to change his habits, his was never able to stick with any doctor for long. He died at the age of 65 from advanced alcoholism and damages to his liver. He passed away in Rome and his cremated remains were buried in his hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. A final novel, “World So Wide,” was published posthumously.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#79: Ntozake Shange
Born in 1948 as Paulette Williams, she adopted the Zulu name Ntozake (meaning “she who comes with her own things”) Shange (meaning “who walks like a lion”) at the age of 23. She felt that her Anglo-Saxon last name was too associated with slavery and that her given first name was a feminized version of the male name Paul. Shange once stated in an interview that she changed her name to disassociate herself from the history of a culture that championed slavery.
Living in the racially segregated city of St. Louis as a child, Shange was bused to a white school where she was forced to endure constant attacks of racism. It was only her family’s strong interest in the Arts and education that encouraged her to persist in school. She attended both Barnard College and UCLA, earning a BA and MA in American Studies. Shange cited her college years as a difficult period, where the relationship and eventual separation from her first husband drove her to attempt suicide several times.
After moving to NYC in 1975, Shange published her most famous play: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Chronicling the lives of black women in the US, it went on to Broadway and earned a number of awards, including the Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the AUDELCO Award. This unique blend of poetry, music, dance and drama was called a “choreopoem” and opened up a new era of theatre. Shange used female dancers to dramatize her poetry and recall encounters with classmates, lovers, rapists, abortionists, and latent killers. These women survive abuse and disappointment to come to recognize in each other the promise of a better future. The piece was adapted into a movie in 2010 (“For Colored Girls” by Tyler Perry).
Shange went on to publish several volumes of poetry that praised her African roots and examined the mistreatment of black women in the US. Her 1978 publication, Nappy Edges, was highly praised for its use of nonstandard spelling and punctuation. Shange once explained her language choices by saying:
“I like the idea that letters dance. … I need some visual stimulation, so that reading becomes not just a passive act and more than an intellectual activity, but demands rigorous participation.”
Shange is still alive today, editing and working in the field of children’s literature.
![Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#80: Ian Fleming
Born in 1908, Fleming’s upper class British family allowed him direct access to the European social and art scene. He was educated at Eton College, yet Fleming’s lifestyle soon brought him into direct conflict with his housemaster. His attitude, his hair oil, his ownership of a car and the fact he had a mistress soon led the administration to “encourage” Fleming to remove himself from the campus.
Struggling to stabilize his life and establish a respectable reputation, Fleming sought to join the military. He was initially turned down by the foreign service, a rejection that deeply wounded him. He moved on to briefly work as a military journalist. Joining Reuters, he experienced immediate success by reporting on a Russian spy trial. This quick leap to fame allowed him to travel the globe for several years and report on the precarious political disputes that had begun springing up.
Fleming was then recruited into the Navy in 1939. Talented in administration, he worked as a liason between multiple offices and military branches. On 29 September 1939, only 29 days WWII began, Fleming wrote and published the Trout Memo. This document contained a number of schemes for use against the Axis powers to lure U-boats and German surface ships towards minefields. One option was an idea to use a corpse, carrying misleading papers, that the enemy could find: this concept formed the basis of Operation Mincemeat, the successful 1943 deception plan to cover the intended invasion of Italy from North Africa.
His time in Navy Intelligence gave Fleming an opportunity to put his creativity and charisma to practical use. The connections and experiences that he gained during this time served as inspiration for many of his writings.
After the War ended, Fleming established himself on the north coast of Jamaica in his home “Goldeneye.” It was there that he drank, romanced women, and established a significant personal library. In 1952, as he waited for one of his pregnant mistresses to finalized her divorce, he wrote out the initial draft of “Casino Royale.” This thriller novel proved to be a huge hit and established Fleming as a top name in English literature.
The character of James Bond was originally intended to take on an entirely different role. As Fleming once stated in a 1962 interview in the New Yorker:
“When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument…when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard.”
The final character was a combination of Fleming’s brother Peter, English spy Conrad O’Brien-ffrench, M16 station-head Bill “Biffy” Dunderdale, and Fleming himself.
Both a heavy smoker and drinker, Fleming suffered from heart disease for most of his life. He died of a heart attack on August 12, 1962. His last words were an apology to the ambulance drivers for having inconvenienced them, saying “I am sorry to trouble you chaps. I don’t know how you get along so fast with the traffic on the roads these days.”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3z2h49gEI1qfai32o1_400.jpg)
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#80: Ian Fleming
Born in 1908, Fleming’s upper class British family allowed him direct access to the European social and art scene. He was educated at Eton College, yet Fleming’s lifestyle soon brought him into direct conflict with his housemaster. His attitude, his hair oil, his ownership of a car and the fact he had a mistress soon led the administration to “encourage” Fleming to remove himself from the campus.
Struggling to stabilize his life and establish a respectable reputation, Fleming sought to join the military. He was initially turned down by the foreign service, a rejection that deeply wounded him. He moved on to briefly work as a military journalist. Joining Reuters, he experienced immediate success by reporting on a Russian spy trial. This quick leap to fame allowed him to travel the globe for several years and report on the precarious political disputes that had begun springing up.
Fleming was then recruited into the Navy in 1939. Talented in administration, he worked as a liason between multiple offices and military branches. On 29 September 1939, only 29 days WWII began, Fleming wrote and published the Trout Memo. This document contained a number of schemes for use against the Axis powers to lure U-boats and German surface ships towards minefields. One option was an idea to use a corpse, carrying misleading papers, that the enemy could find: this concept formed the basis of Operation Mincemeat, the successful 1943 deception plan to cover the intended invasion of Italy from North Africa.
His time in Navy Intelligence gave Fleming an opportunity to put his creativity and charisma to practical use. The connections and experiences that he gained during this time served as inspiration for many of his writings.
After the War ended, Fleming established himself on the north coast of Jamaica in his home “Goldeneye.” It was there that he drank, romanced women, and established a significant personal library. In 1952, as he waited for one of his pregnant mistresses to finalized her divorce, he wrote out the initial draft of “Casino Royale.” This thriller novel proved to be a huge hit and established Fleming as a top name in English literature.
The character of James Bond was originally intended to take on an entirely different role. As Fleming once stated in a 1962 interview in the New Yorker:
“When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument…when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard.”
The final character was a combination of Fleming’s brother Peter, English spy Conrad O’Brien-ffrench, M16 station-head Bill “Biffy” Dunderdale, and Fleming himself.
Both a heavy smoker and drinker, Fleming suffered from heart disease for most of his life. He died of a heart attack on August 12, 1962. His last words were an apology to the ambulance drivers for having inconvenienced them, saying “I am sorry to trouble you chaps. I don’t know how you get along so fast with the traffic on the roads these days.”
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#81: William T Vollmann
Born in LA in 1959, Vollman experienced tragedy at a very young age. His younger sister drowned while under his supervision, an experience that he considered himself responsible for. The weight of this loss influenced a great deal of his later work.
After graduating from the University of California, Vollman bounced between jobs and eventually saved up enough money to fund a trip to Afghanistan. He traveled extensively with mujahideen, actively comparing his own idealistic political beliefs with those of the embroiled Middle East. The writing that he completed during this time provided the basis for his first non-fiction book, “An Afghanistan Picture Show.”
Back in the United States, Vollman supported himself as a computer programmer while submitting short written pieces to various popular magazines. In time, Harper’s, Playboy, Conjunctions, Spin Magazine, Esquire, The New Yorker, Gear, Granta, and The New York Times Book Review all published his work. Yet he never felt comfortable referring to him as a professional journalist. The travel writing and reporting that Vollman engaged in always contained an intensely personal theme that sometimes made it difficult for publications to make him relevant for audiences.
Often labeled a “postmodernist” author, Vollmann refused to distinguish between fiction, journalism, autobiography, and fantasy. Instead, he preferred to travel among many different genres in his work. This led to unique combinations of writing that effectively fused such studies as historiography, confessional poetry, anthropology, philosophy, and sociology. An emphasis on personal experience and emotional empathy led him to actively research any subject that he wished to examine. On one occasion, while researching for a novel about the 1845 Franklin expedition to the Arctic, Vollmann spent two weeks alone at the magnetic North Pole. There he suffered frostbite and permanently burned off his eyebrows when he accidentally set his sleeping bag on fire.
Vollman’s fictional work often dealt with transitioning life in North America, filled with the victims of war and poverty. His famous 2005 novel,Europe Central, followed the lives of a wide range of characters such Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich as they were caught up in the fighting between Germany and the Soviet Union. This work won him the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction. In 2008, he continued on to be awarded a five-year fellowship from the Strauss Living Award, that gave him $50,000 a year, tax free.
Vollman continues to write today, living in Sacrament, California with his family. Often categorized as a lonely and reclusive man, it is rare for him to engage in the current literary culture.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#82: Alison Bechdel
Born in 1960 to a pair of teachers, Bechdel grew up in her family’s funeral home. She often aided her father in the restoration of their antique collection. Although she personally hated the pastime and was often bored by her father’s love of period furnishings, that environment set the stage for her love of drawing.
Her repeated rejections from art schools encouraged her to develop her own off beat form of comic art. From an early age, Bechdel was critical of the way in which women were portrayed in popular comics. The lack of people like herself encouraged her to read more, draw more, and fill the void.
In 1983, Bechdel began a series of comic strips entitled Dykes to Watch Out For. Following the lives and politics of a diverse group of characters, mostly lesbians, she used this comic as a way of accepting the LGBT community and securing a place in popular culture. As she once asked, “If people could only see us, how could they help but love us?” Her loving and satiric storylines made this one of the most successful and popular comics in history.
Bechdel is perhaps best known for her creation of the “Bechdel Test.” This simple test for films and television shows is a way to identify and show the prevalence of gender bias in the media. It requires that a film portray 1. more than one female character who 2. talk with each other 3. about something other than a man. By looking for these specific requirements in a scene, it is possible for a viewer to critically analyze the portrayal of gender and female characters in the media.
Her open examination of familial relationships and her own childhood experiences in the novels “Fun Home” and “Are You My Mother?” have made Bechdel into a highly accessible role model. Today, she continues to write and draw about her daily life in Vermont.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#83: Joyce Carol Oates
Born in Lockport, NY in 1938, Oates was raised in a strict Catholic environment. She wrote her first novel at the age of 15 and was unfortunately rejected by publishers who found its subject matter too depressing for teenage audiences. She was undeterred, continuing on to earn her English degree from Syracuse University and her MA from the University of Wisconsin.
Publishing her first novel in 1964, Oates typically wrote about the power of the self and the high cost of the struggle for autonomy. Oates identifies herself as a feminist and uses her stories to examine the expanding relationships of women, exploring the senses of both wonder and fear that may inhabit their daily lives. Her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” exemplifies these themes and remains one of her best recognized works.
In 1968, Joyce took a job at the University of Windsor. While teaching full time, her move to Canada allowed her to publish new novels at a very quick rate. She and her husband even started a small press and began to publish a literary magazine, The Ontario Review. The critical essaies and short stories that she produced during this time cemented her reputation in the literary community.
Oates has written 56 novels, over 30 collections of short stories, eight volumes of poetry, plays, countless essays and book reviews, and nonfiction works on literary subjects ranging from the fiction of Dostoyevsky and James Joyce to studies of the gothic and horror genres. She continues to live and write in Princeton, where she is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton University.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#84: Franz Kafka
Born in 1883 in Prague to a middle class family, Kafka was one of six children. He was educated in a largely German manner, with little attention paid to his Jewish heritage. It was not until he was a young man that Kafka began to explore Yiddish literature and Zionism.
Kafka briefly worked at an Italian insurance company, but quit in 1908 so that he could pursue a less strict working schedule. He used his new off hours to become more involved in his writing. Together with his companions Max Brod and Felix Weltsch, Kafka formed the “Der enge Prager Kreis”, a close-knit circle of German-Jewish writers who contributed to the literary culture of Prague from the 1880s till after World War I.
In truth, Kafka’s writing attracted little attention until after his death. The majority of his works were published posthumously. He published only a few short stories during his lifetime and even left explicit instructions to have his unfinished works destroyed upon his death. A sense of paranoia surrounded his fiction, leading many of his own companions and future readers to question his mental state.
A number of modern historians claim that Kafka suffered from a schizoid personality disorder. Although he was not diagnosed with mental illness during his lifetime, it is possible that his work, such as “The Metamorphosis,” show a level of psychological anguish that is common in schizophrenic patients. It is even possible that Kafka lived with an atypical form of anorexia nervosa.
The seemingly unbalanced nature of Kafka and his writings is part of the appeal that he holds over modern audiences. Kafka the man may have been neurotic and socially dysfunctional, yet Kafka the writer is emblematic of the existential movement. From Marxist influence to anarchism, Freudian ideology, to the quest for God, his works remain open to widely ranging interpretations. Milan Kundera, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel García Márquez and many others have cited him as a chief influence upon their work.
At the age of 40, Kafka passed away in 1924 due to a bought of tuberculosis. Although he was survived by his three younger sisters, the advent of WWII did not treat them kindly: each was ultimately deported and killed in a concentration camp.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#85: Iris Chang
The daughter of two Chinese university professors, Chang grew up in Illinois. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois in 1989, which provided her with the opportunity to temporarily work as a New York Times stringer.The experience that she gained writing for the paper pushed her to work towards her MA at John Hopkins University and earn positions at both the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune.
From a young age, Chang was interested in recording the experiences of Asian and Chinese immigrants in the US. Her first book followed the life of Tsien Hsue-shen, a Chinese professor, during the Red Scare. ”Thread of the Silkworm” described his experiences as one of the founders of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and work with the US military in debriefing Nazi scientists, as well as his sudden accusation of being a spy and house arrest from 1950 to 1955. Chang used Tsien Hsue-shen’s experiences to examine the inherent racism in US politics and the evolving status of Asian Americans.
Her most significant book was entitled “The Rape of Nanking:The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II,” published in 1997. Her writing details the many atrocities that were committed against the Chinese by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Partially motivated by her grandparents’ stories about their escape from the massacre, Chang gathered an unprecedented amount of information by interviewing elderly survivors and searching thousands of rare documents in four different languages. This was the first English non-fiction account of the Rape of Nanking.
In August 2004, Chang suffered from a nervous breakdown. She was briefly hospitalized and released with a diagnosis of reactive psychosis and depression. On November 9th she was found dead in her car, having shot herself through the mouth. Her suicide note stated:
When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day — but by the minute. It is far better that you remember me as I was — in my heyday as a best-selling author — than the wild-eyed wreck who returned from Louisville… Each breath is becoming difficult for me to take — the anxiety can be compared to drowning in an open sea. I know that my actions will transfer some of this pain to others, indeed those who love me the most. Please forgive me. Forgive me because I cannot forgive myself.
Chang left behind her husband Douglas and their son Christopher. The news of her loss devastated many survivors of Nanjing, leading one community to dedicate a wing of the victims memorial hall in Nanjing to her in 2005. Her memory now lives on in the collection of documents, photos, and human remains from the massacre.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#86: Michael Madsen
Born in Chicago, Micharl Madsen was the son of Elaine (Melson), an Emmy-winning poet, television producer and playwright, and Calvin Madsen, a firefighter. Under his parents’ instruction, Madsen became interested in the arts at a very young age. He was lucky enough to gain a position at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago where he worked as an apprentice to actor John Malkovich.
Madsen’s 6’2” stature and husky voice primed him to consistently play the role of tough guys. He is most well known for playing Mr Blonde in Quentin Tarantino’s film Reservoir Dogs. The scene where he sadistically slices open a police officer and pours gasoline over him, all to the tune of the cheerful song “Stuck in the Middle with You,” has become a cult film classic.
To date, Madsen’s career spans over 25 years and over 170 films. Some of his biggest box off ice hits include Mulholland Drive, Kill Bill (Vol 1-2), Donnie Brasco, Sin City and Free Willy. His personal aversion to violence and feelings of love and dedication towards his children have influenced the roles that he has taken on in later life, pushing him to move away from the bravado and arrogance of bully characters.
Even among his fans, Madsen is rarely acknowledged for his work as a poet. He has published six poetry collections to this date. His style is often compared to Beat Poetry, making use of the alienation and loneliness that he experiences in daily life. His words find the delicate balance between the rough images he often portrays and the man that he sees behind them, asking such questions as: “Life is for the living, but death is for the lucky. Why am I a raw nerve? Why must I see the immense sadness in everything?”
In 1998, his book Burning In Paradise won the Independent Firecracker Poetry Award, while in 2010 he was a Guest of Honor at the Crossing Border Festival at The Hague. He has even been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his Complete Poetic Works by Red Hen Press.
Madsen continues to work as an actor and has recently made a name for himself as an amateur photography. Although he has recently experienced several scrapes with the law, he remains confident that his artistic work is not yet finished.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#87: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Born in Kolkata, India, Chitra received her B.A. from the University of Calcutta in 1976, eventually going on to earn her MA from Wright State University and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985. She put herself through grad school by taking odd jobs whenever they were available, working at times as a store clerk, baby sitter, bread slicer, dining hall attendant, and lab assistant.
In 1991, Divakaruni helped to found Maitri. This helpline offers aid to South Asian or South Asian American women who find themselves in abusive or domestic violence situations. She soon expanded this organization to also found Daya in Houston, in order to better provide services to South Asian women throughout the United States.
Divakaruni’s poems, short stories, and novels all generally focus on similar themes: the roles of women in India and America, the struggle to adapt to new ways of life when cultural traditions come into conflict with new cultural expectations, and the complexities of love between family members, lovers, and spouses. Issues such as arranged marriages, the pain of developing a unique personal identity, and the struggle to remain Indian are recurring. Using techniques such as doubling and pairing, her stories suggest that life in America is as difficult as life in India, perhaps more so due to the contradictory feelings that immigrant women often experience as they are torn between Indian cultural expectations and American life.
Currently, Divakaruni teaches in the Creative Writing program at the University of Houston. Her social activism continues as she serves on the board of Pratham, an organization that helps educate Indian children, especially those who live in urban slums.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#88: Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany
Born in 1978 to a significant and wealthy Irish family, Edward Plunkett inherited the title of Lord Dunsany at an early age. His inherited wealth allowed him the opportunity to pursue a high education while engaging in a large number of social interests, such as fighting for animal rights. He was particularly opposed to the practice of docking dog tails. It was this activism, combined with his family’s social position, that allowed him to become acquainted with many of the top litarery names of his day, such as George William Russell, Oliver St. John Gogarty and W. B. Yeats.
Dunsany served as a Second Lieutenant during the Second Boer War and later as a Captain for the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in World War I. Although he was wounded at one point, he was identified as a valuable trainer and opted to serve in the trenches during the last period of the war.
Dunsany made a name for himself due to his participation in the Irish Literary Revival. He published over sixty books in his lifetime, not counting individual plays. From 1905 to 1919, fantasy overtook his novels and short stories. His first collection, “The Gods of Pegāna,” exhibited lofty and idealistic utopias that appealed to a generation of young readers who were still coping with the losses of war.
His most well-known character was Joseph Jorkens, an obese and charismatic middle-aged man who would visit bars and billiard rooms throughout London, offering to tell fantastic stories to anyone who would buy him a large whiskey and soda. Mr Jorkens had travelled to all seven continents and was experienced in world cultures, but always failed before becoming rich and famous. These “Jorkens” books sold incredibly well and were among the first of a story-type that has since become a staple in fantasy and science fiction: extremely unlikely “club tales” told at a bar.
Dunsany passed away in 1957 from a case of appendicitis. Authors such as JRR Tolkein, HP Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, Jorge Luis Borges, Ursula K Le Guin, and many others have since referenced him as a key influence in their own works.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#89: Arthur Cravan
Born in Switzerland in 1887, Cravan was educated in an English military academy. He was noted to be a sharp student, yet he was forcibly expelled for apparently spanking a teacher.
During World War I, Cravan travelled extensively throughout Europe and the United States. He often forged his own passports and documents in order to gain access wherever he desired. He used his natural charisma and flamboyancy to support himself by performing in any venue that he could: boxing, singing, and staging spontaneous street performances. This, combined with his constantly uprooted lifestyle, gained him the reputation of an eccentric.
From 1911 to 1915, Cravan published the critical magazine Maintenant! Rooted in the Dada art movement, it featured his vibrant poetry, anarchist essaies, and controversial artwork. His poetic works, as well as his escape into Paris in order to avoid being drafted into the military, gained him friendships with many noted writers of the day. Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, and André Breton became some of his closest friends.
One of Cravan’s most lasting effects on European culture were the hoaxes that he promoted. As a nephew of Oscar Wilde, Cravan occasionally forged documents and attempted to publish works in his uncle’s name. Although Wilde actually died in 1900, by 1913 Cravan was still claiming that his uncle was alive and well in Paris. The New York Times even published this rumor as fact, despite the little problem that Cravan and Wilde had never even met. Such controversy appealed to Cravan and gave him a way of melding his worlds of literature and performance together: “Every great artist has the sense of provocation.”
Cravan passed away in 1918, having (most likely) drowned off the coast of Mexico. His legacy has been preserved by the graphic novel “Cravan,” published by Dark Horse Comics.
Top 100 Badass Writers in History
#90: Toni Cade Bambara
Miltonia Mirkin Cade was born in Harlem in 1939. (She legally changed her name in 1970 to include both her nickname Toni and the West African ethnic group Bambara.) She earned her BA degrees from Queens College in both Theatre Arts and English, studied Commedia dell’ Arte at the University of Florence and the Ecole de Mime Etienne Decroux in Paris, attended various colleges in New York to study linguistics, dance, and cinema, and obtained a Masters of Arts in American Literature from the City College of New York in 1965. She used this diverse education to later become a traveling professor at such universities as Livingston College, Emory, Atlanta University, and Spelman.
Bambara participated in many community and activist organizations, highly influenced by the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements. She went on propaganda trips to Cuba in 1973 and to Vietnam in 1975, then moved to Alabama where she became a founding member of the Southern Collective of African-American Writers.
Bambara was one of the first writers to compile an anthology of African American women’s writing, called The Black Woman: an Anthology. In 1959, she won the John Golden Award for Fiction from Queen’s College and the Peter Pauper Press Award in Journalism from the Long Island Star. Her first novel, The Salt Eaters, even won the 1981 American Book Award and Langston Hughes Society Award.
Bambara is most noted for her participation in the emergence of black feminism. She worked closely with such figures as Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, all struggling to bring the voices of minority women into the public spectrum. Her work was politically based, often concerned with the injustices and oppression that she personally saw in African American communities and grassroots political organizations. Her use of female protagonists and female narrators define her writings, which used a combination of radical feminism and African American culture (dialect, oral traditions and jazz techniques), was intended to empower minority women.
Bambara passed away in December 1995 of colon cancer.
