Huh. If you’re willing to accept fictional characters, you might start with Robinson Crusoe (though he did of course eventually find Friday…). I’m drawing a blank other than that, unless you’re willing to expand the definition to include people who are just very insular and don’t have many friends, even though they may have lived in society. (IIRC, Lincoln was that type of loner.)
OK, since Johnny Appleseed was taken, I’ll mention legendary mountain man John Colter. He wasn’t always alone, but did spend a good amount of time by himself.
I’ve read the book that the website’s owner wrote (“Party of One: The Loners’ Manifesto”) and would recommend it to anyone interested in the “loner” issue. As a rather solitary person myself, this topic is pretty interesting to me. I think the paradox of loners comes from two things:
-Americans value independence, and loners are truly independent people obviously. Hence the positive portrayals.
-However, it is undeniable that a certain segment of people become socially withdrawn due to mental illness (maybe exacerbated by solitude since there is no reality check from another person in that situation) or rejection that leds to them lashing out at society…so there is a somewhat justified suspicion of anyone who seems like a loner, in case they are the dangerous or crazy type.
Of course, as a loner, I don’t think of myself as crazy or an unfriendly person. I actually like people a lot - it’s just that I really enjoy having privacy and space to myself.
Another example, one Americans probably didn’t know about, was comedian Benny Hill. When he wasn’t on TV, he seems to have been a recluse, who rarely left his dingy apartment, and rarely spent the huge amounts of money he made.
Beyond that, well, we have to remember there’s a big difference between a recluse and someone who just wants to stay out of the spotlight. People like film director Stanley Kubrick and pianist Glenn Gould come to mind. Were they really “reclusive,” as they were often described, or were they relatively normal men who just wanted to work at their craft without being “celebrities”?
Harper Lee also comes to mind. After “To Kill a Mockingbird,” she pretty much fell out of the public eye, and has taken great pains to stay out of it.
Again, however, it’s hard for an outsider to say if she’s a genuine recluse, or just a woman who prefers not to be in the headlines. For all I know, she may have a sizable circle of friends, and she may be quite gregarious in the right settings.
Actually if you read his daughter’s book (Dream Catcher by Margaret Salinger) it seems that he is not a recluse so much as a person who hates publicity. According to her he travels quite a bit, has friends all over the world, and hosts big parties where he is very gregarious. Certainly not a Howard Hughes type. He did however have a lot of eccentric spiritual beliefs and was pretty abusive to his wife and kids.
Another writer who could be considered publicity shy (though not necessarily reclusive) is Philip K. Dick.