All-Time American Writers Tournament

Most Charismatic #14: Walt Whitman

ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITERS TOURNAMENT

walt whitman

Walt Whitman created a persona and his poems were performative (he famously titled one of them “Song of Myself”) to the extent that they were more personal, more about himself– drawing attention to himself– than those of any poet or writer before him. A forerunner of, and inspiration for, the Beats, Whitman was a famous and public figure, whether writing eulogies for Presidents, being one of the first (supposedly) to read a poem for a phonograph recording, and having a public funeral attended by thousands of mourners. The first American literary rock star? Possibly so.

1231668(Photo of Walt Whitman’s funeral procession.)

NEXT: Charismatic Writer #13
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Most Charismatic #15: Norman Mailer

ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITERS TOURNAMENT

Norman Mailer

NO WRITER tried harder to be charismatic. No author worked harder at being a celebrity– from running for mayor of New York City to directing and starring in low-budget movies to trying to levitate the Pentagon to writing a book about Marilyn Monroe to appearing on television talk shows to stabbing his wife, Norman Mailer was always chasing headlines. Mailer took the phrase “Advertisements for Myself” (one of his book titles) literally. The Harvard grad’s main problem was he didn’t have a lot of charisma. Articulate? Yes. Verbose? Very much. Norman Mailer could talk all day. But his writing and persona lacked the certain “Oomph!” which goes along with being a true celebrity.

Still, we give him an “A” for trying, and place him at Number Fifteen of America’s Most Charismatic All-Time Writers.

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NEXT: Who is #14?
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Who Are the Most Charismatic American Writers?

THE ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITERS TOURNAMENT

charisma writers

AS SIDE FEATURE to the big tournament (still officially on hiatus) we’re presenting a scientific assessment of the–

“MOST CHARISMATIC AMERICAN WRITERS”

–with aid from the boys at Scientific Customized Analysis Marketing Inc., who’ve been helping us with the Tournament itself.

FACTORS

Which factors have we used to determine as nebulous a quality as charisma?

A.) WHETHER OR NOT they’re cultural icons. Iconic figures in their time and ours.

-How large was/is their cultural footprint?-

The goal after all for writers (and promoters of writing and writers) should be to increase the literary art’s footprint in this society. This world.

B.) EXCITEMENT OF THEIR WRITING. How charismatic is their poetry or prose? Did it, in and of itself, create excitement for literature? For themselves?

C.) EXCITEMENT OF THE ARTIST. Did the writer create a visible persona? Become a larger-than-life personality? Did a myth grow up about the individual? About the person’s art and life?

The folks at S.C.A.M. Inc. broke this down further for us, into precise data points not unlike baseball sabermetrics. Or whatever the fellows at FiveThirtyEight.com come up with to justify their not-always-accurate-in-fact-usually-wrong predictions about politics.

-Do we claim our assessment as scientific?-

We do so claim this! If it’s scientific, it must be correct.
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OF the more than 200 literary names analyzed, we’ll present, soon, the Top Fifteen Most Charismatic.

NOTE: Not included were those writers whose biggest claim to fame was in another art form or medium. Which means, no Bob Dylan, Hunter S. Thompson, Patti Smith or Eminem. Sorry! Literature FIRST.

NEXT: #15
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Noir Master: Chester Himes

ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITERS TOURNAMENT

Chester-Himes

AMONG the writers we’ll be considering for the remaining slots in the tourney when it resumes are several noir “pulp” writers– notable among them Kenneth Fearing and Chester Himes.

Himes created two unforgettable pulp fiction characters: Harlem detectives Coffin Ed and Grave Digger Jones.

Chester Himes also was a master of vibrant description– not overwhelming the reader with detail but using just the right colorful words and phrases– like a painter using daubs of paint– to make the writing seem to jump from the page. An example:

A car coming fast down 127th Street burnt rubber in an earsplitting shriek to keep from running him down. Seen in the car’s headlights, his sweating face was bright red and muscle-ridged; his blue eyes were black with panic; his grayshot hair in wild disorder.

(From The Real Cool Killers.”)

TheRealCoolKillers

Note the subtle use of euphony in these two sentences: “shriek to keep”; “his blue eyes were black with panic.” A bit poetic.

A writer worth study for those wishing to reinvigorate the writing art, and reconnect it to the populace at large.

BlindManWithAPistol
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Hemingway and Trauma

ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITERS TOURNAMENT

hem on crutches

Editor’s note: We’ll return to “live” coverage of the Tournament as soon as possible. Until then we’ll be making occasional posts regarding possible or likely participants in the tournament.
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INTERESTING to me is the way Ernest Hemingway so aggressively pushed himself to partake of experience, of the world and life– part of his process of self-creation as a writer.

Instinctively Hemingway knew that to be a great writer he had to put himself out there– beyond safety. As Jack London did before ever considering becoming a writer.

(NO writer worked harder at turning himself into a great writer, with all that goes into it, than Ernest Hemingway.)

Examine the most striking most emotional most vulnerable or compassionate artists– those more in tune with the universe than the run-of-the-mill rest of us– Van Gogh, Beethoven, Dickens, Dostoevsky, even Kurt Cobain– and you’ll see they experienced, at some point of their lives, extreme trauma and emotional pain.

Trauma is at the center of Hemingway’s best work, from the early short stories to his first two masterful novels, The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms.

Does this apply in any way to writers today? Is it an argument for putting oneself out there?

It’s not an argument for playing it safe. The standard route of schooling, certifications, workshops, seminars; of following the herd; has produced a great amount of competence, even talent. But no literary greatness.

It’s why we at New Pop Lit have looked for writers outside the established system, knowing they may have a deeper take on reality. Those who’ve had the toughest lives, faced the most hardship, bounced around the most– whose writing might appear offbeat or hyper-emotional or bizarre– might have a greater store of what some call talent or even have some of what others call genius.

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