Writers Gone Wild: The Feuds, Frolics, And Follies Of Literature's Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts, And Misanthropes (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
To call this an "on the toilet" book would be doing it a serious disservice. Contained within is a series of short (and shorter) essays on our heroes of so-called "world literature" demonstrating without doubt that they are just as flawed, greedy, silly, adventurous, selfish, and horny as you and I are. They are universally entertaining and sometimes disturbing. Take Jackie Susann's quote after learning that JFK had been shot "Why the fuck does this happen to me? This is gonna ruin my tour." JS dead at 56. Coincidence? Malcolm Lowry's mysterious death. Boswell's lasciviousness. Simone de Beauvoir's relationship with Nelson Algren. Hemingway's pettiness. Fitzgerald's drunkenness. Joyce and Proust's only meeting. Jack London's secret to writing. Edith Wharton's snobbishness. Rimbaud's fiction and gun running. Mishima's dramatic death. HG Wells' numerous affairs. Plath's spicy seductress. As you can tell from the list above, this is a book full of anecdotes about the greats of literature. Each anecdote is a page or so and any literate reader is likely to spot a number of writers they've read and/or admired and is likely to come away with a completely different idea of who they were. I'm a literature student and found this book to be a very entertaining read with lots of funny/interesting/sad/bizarre stories about some of my favourite writers. It humanises these men and women who, I think, have become beatified rather than remembered as flawed human beings who created art. The book reminds us that they were just like us. Great fun to read and especially good if you're familiar with the names and their books.
What do You think about Writers Gone Wild: The Feuds, Frolics, And Follies Of Literature's Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts, And Misanthropes (2010)?
Silly, gossip-filled tidbit's about some of the greatest writer's in history. Good for a giggle.
—daemon
Wonderful book. A blast to read. You will titter and giggle throughout.
—carson
Entertaining little stories. This was a fun little book.
—Pamla
What a fun romp through the fun romps of others!
—Vampiress2014
