Legacy: The Artists Behind The Legends

The beginning is the end is the end.

This is the Preface to my latest novel, Rationem, available for pre order now at www.inkshares.com/books/rationem

Oh hey. Miss me? Legacy Season 4 coming September 2021What is Rationem? Tune in to find out.To pre order Rationem, click here!

ANNOUNCEMENT!

William Edward Burghart Du Bois was an American author, editor, writer, sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, and all around badass active from the late 19th to mid 20th centuries. He was the first African American do earn a doctorate from Harvard University and one of the original founders of the NAACP in 1910 who rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of African-American activists that wanted equal rights for blacks and pushed for an increase in black political representation. Over the course of his life, racism was the main target of Du Bois’ polemics, and he strongly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in both education and employment. This cause included people of color everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians in colonies, and he was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and helped organize several Pan-African Congresses to fight for the independence of African colonies from European powers. On top of that, he a

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American playwright, activist, and writer active throughout the middle of the 20th century. She is probably best known for being the first African American female author to have a play performed on Broadway – this of course being her masterpiece, A Raisin in the Sun. What is remarkable about Hansberry’s work is her ability to argue for political, economic, social, racial, and sexual liberation while simultaneously satisfying her own urge for self-expression through aesthetics, almost as if she were walking a political-artistic tightrope. Though her life was cut far too short at the age of 34, Lorraine’s genius inspired everyone around her, particularly in regards to the Civil Rights Movement, and that includes the other artist we will be discussing today, a personal friend of Lorraine’s: Nina Simone.Eunice Kathleen Waymon, or as we know her, Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist, also active throughout the middle to late 20th century. Simone o

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, playwright, columnist, and social activist active throughout the early to middle 20th century, probably best known as one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance. Through his work, Hughes sought to honestly portray the joys and hardships of working-class black lives, avoiding both sentimental idealization and negative stereotypes – in his own words, Langston declared his poetry was about “workers, roustabouts, and singers, and job hunters on Lenox Avenue in New York, or Seventh Street in Washington or South State in Chicago – people up today and down tomorrow, working this week and fired the next, beaten and baffled, but determined not to be wholly beaten, buying furniture on the installment plan, filling the house with roomers to help pay the rent, hoping to get a new suit for Easter – and pawning that suit before the Fourth of July.” What is so monumental about Hughes is that he brought a varied and diverse background to his writing: before the a

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, or as we all have come to know and love her, Toni Morrison, was an American novelist, essayist, college professor, and editor active throughout the later 20th and early 21st centuries. Throughout the course of her career, Toni won a plethora of awards for her work, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 (of which she was the first African-American woman to receive and upon hearing the news over the telephone thought her friend was just drunk), a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her groundbreaking novel, Beloved, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1996, and MANY, many more. Morrison was one of the rare American authors whose books were both critical and commercial successes – Oprah was literally her number one fan, of which we will discuss later, and when it came to her own writing, Morrison was the author of 11 novels as well as children’s books and essay collections. Her work focused on themes of black American experience

James Arthur Baldwin, aka Jimmy (as everyone called him), was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist throughout the course of the 20th century. Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Baldwin streamlined onto the writing scene in 1955 with a collection of essays entitled Notes of a Native Son, which explored the intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions during that time period in the United States. Baldwin’s short stories, novels, and plays brilliantly fictionalize the fundamental personal questions and dilemmas he faced during his life, all amidst complex social and psychological pressures along with racial disparity, sexual identity, masculinity, and status. His works, of course, run rampantly parallel with some of the major political movements toward social change in mid-twentieth century America, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Liberation Movement. And let me tell you, Jimmy was a fucking unbelievably brilliant speaker, both eloquent and forthright, honest an

Hermann Karl Hesse was a German novelist, poet, and water color painter active from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, and while his works have run relatively under the radar in the Western Hemisphere, Hesse did win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. Some of his best known works include Demian, Siddhartha, The Glass Bead Game, and Steppenwolf, which yes, to answer your question, the Canadian-American rock band from the 60s and 70s did name their group after Hesse’s incredible tale of discovery. Hesse’s writing was often an exploration of an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality, paired with an effort to break out of the established rules and modes of civilization. Let me be very honest about Hesse’s initial reception amongst readers – his writing was never quite popular amongst critics – in fact, it was often described as ‘inaccessible’ for the majority American readers (MUCH was lost in translations back then). During a time of world wars, much of Hesse’s work tends t

Ricardo Eliecer Fertali Reyes Basoalto, or better known under his pen name Pablo Neruda, was a Chilean poet, politician, and diplomat active during the 20thcentury. From the VERY young age of 13, Neruda’s writing career commenced with producing poetry, though his work spanned various styles of prose, including surrealist poems, historical epics, overtly political manifestos, a prose autobiography, and passionate love poems, which tended to be his most popular and included the collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. Throughout his life, Pablo occupied numerous diplomatic positions in his home country of Chile and served a term as a Senator for the Chilean Communist Party; however, much of the mid 20thcentury proved to be tumultuous for Chile’s government, and Neruda found himself riding the waves between politician and exile. In the later years of his life, with the return of communism, Pablo was a close advisor to Chile’s socialist President Salvadore Allende, and went on to win the Nobel Prize in

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, better known as HP Lovecraft, was an American writer of horror and…well…just…odd fiction, active during the early 20th century. Though he grew up in affluence, Lovecraft was struck early with family tragedy, thus compounded by financial struggles, and while he was never quite the type to make an effort with his studies, Lovecraft’s imagination was built at a very young age due to his beloved Grandfather’s storytelling. In the years before, during, and after WWI, Lovecraft became involved in pulp fiction, writing and publishing stories which focused on his interpretation of humanity’s place in the universe, and these works would of course be supplemented with fantastical, strange, and sometimes horrific elements. His best known work, “The Call of Cthulhu” (khlul-loo) is the one that put him on the map, and despite being virtually unknown during his time, Lovecraft in later years has amassed a cult following including both Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. So just who was this New England

Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, aka Alexandre Dumas, was a prolific French writer active throughout the middle of the 19th century. His works have been translated into roughly over one hundred languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors of all time, alongside our other favorite Frenchman, Victor Hugo. While his novels were originally published as serials in newspapers, they have been adapted in the 20th century into nearly 200 different films demonstrating how insanely talented this guy was in a multitude of genres. You of course probably know him from his two greatest hits, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, however the depth of Dumas’ writing goes well beyond a handful of novels. In grand total, Alexandre produced over 100,000 pages of published writing throughout his life…and just to assure you, that is a shit ton of pages. He was additionally biracial, having a grandmother of Haitian descent, a typical Frenchman in that he was married with dozens of mistresses, and when

Mary Flannery O’Connor was an American short story writer, essayist, and novelist, active throughout the first half of the 20th century. Born in Savannah, GA, Flannery’s original writing dreams were to become a journalist, yet that was squashed due to her shy personality and ridiculously heavy southern draw, and therefore, the arena of fiction was where she optimized her craft. O’Connor led a too short life, and her career is often overlooked due to the fact that its focus centers around the idea of Christian realism; Flannery was a devout Roman Catholic, and at the heart of each one of her short stories is a moment where the character is charged with the decision of choosing to accept or reject grace (aka GOD). In most circumstances, she would use relatively grotesque and violent scenes to show this moment, because in her own opinion, accepting grace is difficult and painful. “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.” In grand total, Flannery wrote 2 novel

Walter Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist, active throughout the mid 19th century, best known for his repeatedly revised work, Leaves of Grass, and considered to be a latter-day successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Shakespeare (of whom he is not a fan, btw). Whitman was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both perspectives into his writing, though his work was considered to be somewhat controversial (I am sorry, VERY controversial – it was reviewed by some as obscene) due to its overt sensuality. Throughout his life, Whitman worked as a journalist, a government clerk, and a teacher, spending the majority of his life in Brooklyn, New York. As a humanist, Walt volunteered much of his time during the Civil War, taking care of Confederate and Union soldiers alike who were wounded in the hospitals. What I find so amazing about Whitman is that originally in 1855, he published Leaves of Grass with his own money, with the sheer desire to reach out to the

Herbert George Wells was an English novelist, teacher, historian, and journalist active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a prolific writer in various genres and considered to be one of the main pioneers of the science fiction genre alongside Jules Verne, writing more than 100 books during his six decade career. Additionally, Wells wrote short stories and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography, and autobiography, as well as two books on recreational war games. Throughout his life, Wells was considered a prominent forward-thinking, and in moments prophetic, social critic, and he devoted much of his literary talent to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. Wells was a futurist and an outspoken socialist who empathized with pacifism, and he foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television, and quite possibly even the internet. Throughout his career, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times, a ma

WE ARE BACK FOR SEASON 3!

Aldous Leonard Huxley was a 20th century British writer and philosopher probably best known for his 1932 novel Brave New World, though in total Huxley would write over fifty nonfiction and fiction works throughout his life, as well as collections of essays, narratives, and poetry. By the end of his career, Huxley was considered one of the foremost intellectuals of his time, and as both a humanist and a pacifist, his ideas and writing had an immense impact on society, particularly when it came to mysticism and universalism. By his early twenties, Huxley established himself as a successful writer and satirist, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times, and was additionally made the Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962. He moved to LA in the later 1930s where he led an incredibly prosperous occupation as a screenwriter, and of course I will most definitely not be leaving out Huxley’s experimentation with drugs, his attachments to the Bloomsbury Group, and sh

Karl Stig Erland Larsson, or as we all know him, Stieg Larsson, was a Swedish journalist, activist, and writer best known for his Millennium trilogy of crime novels following the life of Lisbeth Salander and Mikel Blomkvist. Sadly for Stieg, he passed away only just after completing the third installment of his Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicks the Hornet’s Nest. Posthumously, however, this series has become an international sensation, inspiring films on both sides of the Atlantic as well as a continuation of the series by David Lagercrantz, with the sixth novel to be released in September 2019. Still, what you might not know about Mr. Larsson is that he, in fact, led a very parallel life path to that of his signature character, Mr. Kalle Blomkvist. He spent his life devoted to a socialist cause, fighting as an independent researcher of right-wing extremism within the depths of Swedish government. Stieg was additionally a staunch feminist after witnessing a horrifying assault at a young age, and devoted

John Michael Crichton was an American author, screenwriter, producer, film director, certified medical doctor, and television creator active through the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and his books alone have sold over 200 million copies worldwide in 38 languages with over a dozen adapted into films. And yes, you heard me right. Crichton was a licensed medical doctor out of Harvard Medical School, just to give you a frame of reference for how intelligent he was. His novel writing took off while he was still in Medical School with Crichton hoping the sales of a few books might help pay for his education. Instead, Crichton saw huge commercial success and decided writing was the passion he wished to pursue over medicine. From there, it was a steady stream of incredible and groundbreaking action-adventure stories that focused heavily on technology and science, a path that led him to unbelievable success with his novels, in film, and on television. But who was Michael Crichton beneath his talent for writing a