Have you seen my nuts? - Writers Forum

freebird · 08-03-2005, 10:44 AM

I love the Beatles musically and really like Lewis Carroll. In literature we have seen some crazy writers throughout history. Politically my favorite writer is PJ O'Rourke he is a tad off, and I think Edgar Allen Poe is a full fledged nut job. Which writer throughout history do you think is crazy, off his medicine, or just plain nuts?

Pictured Below is my pet squirrel Nutty, official mascot of this thread.

Nutty Squirrel

freebird · 08-03-2005, 11:35 AM

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream." -Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

One of my personal favorite authors is Shirley Jackson. Yet she seems strange, certainly does writes on strange subjects. When I first read her in 9th grade, I was engrossed in the work. In Judy Oppenhiemer’s biography of Shirley Jackson, she states on page one, "[Shirley’s Mother] too would have liked a daughter who was beautiful and a fool; instead, she got Shirley, who would never for one instant be either."

The book "Private Demons; The Life of Shirley Jackson." is an amazing look at a woman who was, herself, as remarkable as any character she created. She had a San Francisco socialite mother, who worried when Shirley married a Jewish writer. Shirley was never one to base her love on such things. She had four children, which she took care of during the day, and wrote her stories in her spare time. She was the opposite of what a normal 40’s housewife would have been.

Her stories usually centered on one troubled female, with the males in the story being either diseased, disabled or dead. Shirley needed them only for backdrops in the lives of the richly divine female characters she created. Not many people I have talk to about Shirley Jackson even know who she was. Most who know her only know her one story "The Lottery." Some others know her because of her novel "The Haunting of Hill House."

Shirley Jackson is nuts. She was also an enjoyable author to me. Who do you think is nuts?

Kimberly Bird · 08-03-2005, 02:36 PM

I can't think of a strange author, but I just have to say that squirrel is hilarious. It reminds me of my cat Gabby who is experiencing the same problem, ha.

freebird · 08-03-2005, 02:40 PM

Poor Gabby. Post a picture when you think of that strange or weird author allright? Man there are hundreds of weird sci-fi authors. I am thinking of Stephen King as well.

freebird · 08-04-2005, 02:46 PM

I did not know that...interesting. So Tarzan had problems with Jane, he must have been a swinger.

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrwriter

To me William Burroughs always seemed like a good candidate for the bughouse. Heshot his wife to death and got away with it because it happened in Mexico. Some of his books read like clinical textbook psychosis.

Monkey King · 08-04-2005, 04:43 PM

Hunter S. Thompson.

A guy I work with was reading "The Great Shark Hunt." Right after he finnished reading the into where Thompson talks about how he wants to kill himself my buddy turned on the TV and heard the news that Thompson had just been found dead.

Just reading his stuff though, you'll find him unstable.

Achilles · 08-04-2005, 04:46 PM

Douglas Adams. Entirely out of the ordinary, but in the most entertaining way imaginable. You've gotta be a genius to write about messianic computers or existential elevators. There's some wacky stuff to feast the brain on.

Nemekke · 08-04-2005, 05:15 PM

When I first saw the Title of this thread, that picture popped into my mind.

I have a bird feeder outside my window and every afternoon an obviously male squirrel climbs up the wall and eats the sunflower seeds. It cracks me up because that picture is not altered.

It's rather scary to realize that Freebird and I think alike.....LOL

(Just teasing Freebird

)

Londongrey · 08-04-2005, 05:40 PM

Oh damn, I was hoping for a different picture, *ahem* oops!!

To me most of the literary canon are complete nuts. Alfred Lord Tennison is a good example of a fruit loop. Urm, who else? Let me think...urm..............Emily Bronte always made me wonder aswell.

freebird · 08-04-2005, 06:23 PM

For you London....But just for you an old beach shot....

Londongrey · 08-04-2005, 06:32 PM

My what big....hands you've got

*swoon*

freebird · 08-04-2005, 06:34 PM

Nuts. I thought you would say something else. You crack me up! Cheers! freebird

Londongrey · 08-04-2005, 06:46 PM

Oh and those, lol. =D>

freebird · 08-04-2005, 09:28 PM

Man to screw with the Hell's Angels just for a story is pretty screwed up.