By which I mean, authors who are either just as or more famous for their personal idiosyncrasies and physical demeanor than for their writing.
This is inspired by mention of Truman Capote in several threads recently. Capote was bigger (if you’ll excuse the inherent joke) than his work. There’s a certain physical set of the body and a certain timbre and pitch of the voice that a good portion of the population would recognize as Truman Capote without explication.
Similary, Hunter S. Thompson fits on that list. His personal attitude and his caricature as Uncle Duke in the Doonesbury comic strip have made him recognizable to far more people than have ever read his work.
Who do you think fits in this category?
(Mods, I figured since it’s about authors, it fits in CS. If you think it belongs in IMHO, have at it!)
Mark Twain was probably one of the first. The suit, the 'stache, the 'tude - the man knew the value of branding.
The only person to really surpass him was Ernest Hemingway. How many other writers manage to actually exemplify a certain type of man? Hemingway could have filled a network worth of reality shows. He insisted on making his personal life as big as - bigger, in fact, given his sparse pose.
I wouldn’t have thought of him right off, but it’s so true. I’ve never been able to decide if meeting him would be a great experience or if I’d want to smack him within five minutes.
He says he’s finished writing novels, too, which is sad, but the sort of thing he’d do. Oh, and don’t forget he sells salsa on the internet.
I don’t know. Both Bukowski and Burroughs are distinctive because of their work. But I wouldn’t be able to pick either one out of a crowd, which leads me to believe that they, themselves, don’t qualify for the thread.
Generally speaking, if the only way most people would recognize an author is if that author were reading one of their books aloud, they don’t qualify.
Anne Rice is one of the biggest movie-star status celebrity authors, though she’s toned down a bit in recent years. She made Liberace-like entrances to book signings (usually in Goth attire) and her mansion in the NOLA Garden District (which she no longer lives in- not sure if she still owns it) was world famous and such a popular tourist destination her neighbors hated her presence there.
Tom Wolfe’s been mentioned. His Mark Twain homage white suit is one of the most famous visual associations with an author.
David Sedaris is one of the few authors who can sell out an auditorium for personal appearances.