Legacy: The Artists Behind The Legends

Geoffrey Chaucer, a man known as the father of English literature, was THE master of poetry and verse in the 14th century prior to William Shakespeare. Chaucer wrote during a time in England when Latin was considered the ‘grammatica’ (aka language that would not change), and most of the upper class English spoke French fluently. The most popular of his works is The Canterbury Tales, which we will discuss for a bit later in the podcast, and he saw the reign of three different kings during his days on earth. Oddly enough, there are just about five hundred “records” of his life that we still have today, all of which pertain to his courtly and civic posts, awards he received through his life, and also where he lived; however, not one of the existing records mentions anything whatsoever of Chaucer’s career as a poet. Why do these kind of records overshadow his literary works? Well, probably because Chaucer was actually kind of a big deal at court, holding positions of high esteem as a courtier, diplomat, and civil

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer best known for his detective fiction and the creation of the character Sherlock Holmes, a character who unless you have been living under a rock, still dominates popular culture today. Sir Arthur was a Victorian to the bone, and cherished the ideals of duty, chivalry, honor, and respectability far above any others. Though Doyle was originally a physician, his lack of patients and love of stories catapulted him into the realm of writing, launching a prolific career with works of fantasy and science fiction, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and history. Sir Arthur was additionally a very gifted public speaker, and he used his talents later in life to discuss and investigate the world of spiritualism, and yes, by spiritualism I do mean the supernatural phenomena. If you are as confused by this as I am, don’t worry, we’ll get there as we get deeper into the podcast. He was also a badass cricket player, one of the first motorists in England, and following

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish writer active during the 19th century and best known for his incredible and vast number of fairy tales. In total, Andersen wrote close to 3381 works, and over the years his fairy tales have been translated into roughly 125 different languages. And while some of us may remember the Disney versions of these tales, such as “The Little Mermaid”, “The Snow Queen”, and “The Ugly Duckling”, in reality, these stories were written with seriously dark undertones we will be examining a bit later in the podcast. Andersen was revered in his home country of Denmark, becoming a celebrity author in the height of his career on an international level, and the Danish government even paid him an annual stipend for being a “national treasure.” Furthermore, it is essentially cautioned by many historians and biographers not to cover a man like Hans Christian Andersen for this type of thing, because they claim his life was relatively uneventful and “vanilla”; however, if you know anything about m

The Brontë Sisters: Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë lived and died very young in the early 19th century, and all three sisters were both novelists as well as poets. Like many contemporary female writers before them, the Brontë’s wrote under male pseudonyms, and were Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell respectively. Their novels had a tremendous impact and eventually became extremely popular in Victorian England, and today, their works are accepted as masterpieces of literature. Sadly, the Brontë family suffered much loss, and not one of the sisters made it to age 40. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne were pretty typical of common women during this time period in that they were educated, impoverished, and likely destined to become spinsters as they grew older, and yet what is fascinating about the Brontë’s is that they cherished their isolated home on the moors. The few times they did venture into formal society left them scarred, from working as governesses to eventually travelling to London to promote their literary wo

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, literary critic, and editor, who is remembered for his incredibly imaginative and sometimes utterly chilling short stories and poetry. Poe is regarded by many educators and scholars as the architect of the modern short story, as well as the inventor of the detective fiction genre. Certain aspects of Poe’s life were very similar to his work in that they are mysterious and unknown, and since his death, the true facts of Edgar Allan Poe’s days on this earth are pretty hard to make out. He seemed to find himself constantly surrounded by death and despair, and regardless of his literary popularity and renowned, Poe struggled financially through all forty of his years. But there are some pretty crazy instances in Poe’s life that make him an absolutely fascinating character of history: for one, he LOVED cats…to a kind of weird degree; he married his wife he was twenty-six and she was thirteen (I know gross – though there are quite a few historians who firmly believe they had a

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, essayist, and civil servant, with a career that stretched from acting as a mouthpiece for the Commonwealth of England to writing one of the greatest epic poems ever, Paradise Lost. Milton grew up in an extremely volatile time period in England – he watched a Civil War ensue, a monarch beheaded, the push for republicanism through the Commonwealth, and eventually, the restoration of the monarchy only a decade later. For most of his youth, Milton made a point to educate himself to such a degree that he was more accomplished and well-read than most college professors, and it was believed that he could speak roughly ten languages. And while most of us have read or at least have heard of Paradise Lost, what Milton was best known during his life was his masterpiece Areopagitica, which fiercely advocates freedom of speech and of the press…two concepts that were quite dangerous for the political turbulence of the 17th century. On top of that, Milton was quite the ladies man

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, better known as JRR Tolkien, was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known for writing the incredible and very popular works, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. Tolkien is considered to be the father of modern fantasy literature, or as it’s been come to be known today, high-fantasy, but what many do not realize is the immense amount of creation that exists behind these literary pieces. In order to construct these alternate worlds, Tolkien invented tales, poems, fictional histories, languages, and literary essays, applying the term Legendarium to this collection of writings. Before his completion of these works, however, Tolkien overcame an early life of setbacks and struggle, and these experiences distinctly impacted his writing and many of the stories told throughout his books and the Legendarium. He also fought in the first World War, stood up to the Nazi regime when not many others would, and as his popularity grew, began to

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was a nineteenth century English novelist, short story writer, biographer, essayist, and travel writer who is probably most famously known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. The first half of her life closely resembles a soap opera drama that began when she ran away with the then married Percy Shelley, and until his death, Mary found herself sucked into an almost gypsy-like existence, bouncing from place to place and abiding by a type of bohemian lifestyle which broke most social norms of that day and age. This poor woman endured one hell of a lot of bullshit, from her leech of a father to her cheating husband, and what is worse is that in spite of the fact that she was pregnant four or five times (that we know of), all of her children save one died before they reached one-year-old. But don’t let that fool you – Mary took after her own mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, when it came to perseverance, and though she is more remembered for Frankenstein than much o

Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author, most notably remembered for pioneering the infamous Gonzo Journalism, and for also being…and I say this with reverence and respect…a misfit, or better yet a rebel, of society. His career boomed into full swing in the mid 1960s when he took on a full year of researching the biker gang, the Hell’s Angels, and in the years that followed, Thompson made a name for himself in the journalistic community because of his unique approach to his stories (we’ll get to that in a short bit). At the start of the 70s, Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas took America by storm, casting him into the celebrity spotlight and additionally, making him one of the most sought after writers of his generation. But Thompson was SO much more than a journalist. He ran for Sheriff in 1970 in Aspen, Colorado, he was a huge political activist who by no means had any qualms about saying just what the fuck was on his mind, and his list of friends ranged from Johnny Depp to…se

Victor Marie Hugo was a novelist, poet, and dramatist of the Romantic Movement, known most notably for writing Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is considered to be one of the greatest French writers of all time, and while Le Mis and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are his best-known works, Hugo is primarily remembered in France for his poetry, such as The Contemplations and The Legend of the Ages. He was also an incredibly talented artist and fervent political activist, standing firm in his fight against numerous social causes including the abolition of capital punishment. Though he was a committed royalist in his youth, as he grew older, Hugo became a staunch supporter of Republicanism, and even spent some time in exile because of these ideals when Louis Napoleon (aka Napoleon the III) took over in 1851. But…like those before him, Hugo had some very interesting habits. Despite loving his wife, he had an incredible amount of mistresses throughout his life, and his sexual tastes centered greatly

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic poet, historian, and politician, elected twice as the lawspeaker of the Icelandic Parliament, the Althing, and who also served as a royal vassal for the Norwegian King Hakon during an era of tremendous political upheaval amongst the Nordic states. As a writer, Snorri is best known for three major pieces: the Prose Edda, the Heimskringla, and though it is technically not confirmed, he’s credited additionally with Egil's Saga. Most notably, Snorri is responsible for saving huge chunks of Norse Mythology, all of which would have been lost to history if not for him, and additionally for documenting the monarchs and bloodlines of Norway that had yet to be recorded. But setting aside Snorri’s professional work, this guy lived a life that more or less mirrors the violence and politics of Game of Thrones with a dash of Vikings added to it – two wives, multiple concubines, lots of children, warring against his brother and other chieftains for power, manipulating monarchs, using h

Born into a life of privilege just prior to World War I, Ian Lancaster Fleming is most famous for bringing to life the character of British spy, James Bond, over the course of twelve espionage novels. He had a troubled start through his adolescence and collegiate years, yet after serving Britain’s Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War as the right hand man of the Director himself, Fleming proved to be an invaluable asset to British Intelligence. His experience in the military proved to be the inspiration for Bond, and during his lifetime alone, Fleming sold thirty million books from the Bond series, and that number doubled in the two years following his death. By the end of his womanizing, adventurous, booze and cigarette stained years, Fleming did not just sell books. He was the friend of presidents, prime ministers, as well as celebrities and writers alike. In 1961, he met President John F. Kennedy at the White House, who was a huge fan of the Bond series, and the two proceeded to have a l

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, who also bore the name Lady Mallowan, was by no means your average 20th century female writer. Dabbling in various literary forms including novels, short stories, as well as the stage, Agatha Christie became known as the “Queen of Crime” for her detective fiction once her writing career took off in the 1920s. She served in both World Wars, traveled extensively throughout the world, and was even widely known as the first female Brit to stand up on a surfboard whilst on a ‘round the world trip that ventured through Hawaii. On top of that, she had a profound interest in archaeological digs and studies, and at one time was even investigated by the MI5 (aka the British espionage circuit for the government). But what’s more interesting about Christie lies beneath her success and popularity in the literary world, because beneath those accomplishments was a woman with more depth (and some pretty strange quirks) than her critics gave her credit for. Just who was Agatha Christie? Let

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, arguably one of the best novelists of all time, was a complicated yet fascinating Russian writer who spent the majority of his days on earth chasing the meaning of life and the world around him. His two most famous novels, Anna Karenina and War and Peace, took the later part of the 19th century by storm, and in the three decades after their publication, Tolstoy took a hard right turn and transformed into a moral and religious teacher, corresponding with Gandhi and defying the Russian Orthodox Church for a more radical stance on Christian anarchism and pacifism (never thought those two things would go together…but sure). Ironically enough, Tolstoy led an early life of privilege, though over the course of his life, learned to despise the hierarchies of society, religion, and government, thus becoming an advocate of Georgism and, to be honest, losing touch a bit with reality. Tolstoy’s life is a conundrum, a giant mess of activity that goes from one polar extreme to the next, so l

Aphra Behn was an English playwright, translator, poet, and fiction writer active during the Restoration Era in 17th the Century. She is perhaps best known for being one of the first British female writers to earn her living from her literary works, and during her life she was one of the most frequently performed playwright in England. Her novel, Oroonoko, was inspired by Behn’s own experiences in Suriname during her youth, and in addition to being considered one of the earliest novels in the English language, it was also one of the first to address controversial issues such as racism, colonialism, sex, class, and gender. If that’s not enough of an introduction, like Christopher Marlowe in Episode 2, Behn served as a spy for the crown throughout the Second Anglo-Dutch War, reporting back to King Charles II with information in…no joke…invisible ink. By far one of the coolest writers of the past, let’s dive into the life of Aphra Behn, a pioneer for the rise of the female voice, whose wit, charm, and talent tur

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer active during the latter part of the 19th century. He was a literary celebrity throughout his life, brought to fame by his most famous works, including Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped. A man who, beneath his tall and skinny frame, was fierce in his dedication to writing – a walking dichotomy that is reflected within Stevenson’s work. Throughout his tales and stories, Stevenson explores the light and the dark, or rather the good and the evil, embodied by humanity, and the very grey line that sometimes makes these two indistinguishable. Yet at the age of 44, Stevenson succumbed to a lifetime battle with chronic illness, an illness that never stopped him from traveling the great lengths of the globe and writing a library full of remarkable literature. Who was Robert Louis Stevenson, or as I have come to call him, the beloved RLS? Let’s find out.

Christopher Marlowe was an English playwright, poet, and translator known for pushing limits. His short 29 years are filled with mystery and intrigue, from the themes of his writing to his presumed work as a spy for Queen Elizabeth I in the later 16th century. To this day, Marlowe is still considered one of the top ten best English playwrights of all time, and was the foremost influence on William Shakespeare’s own creations for the stage. If Marlowe’s life had not been cut short, would Shakespeare still be in the lead, or would Marlowe be the poetic master we remember today? I can’t say for sure, but it’s time to get down and dirty with the incredible life of Christopher Marlowe, the bad-boy playwright of Tudor England.

Ernest ‘Papa’ Hemingway was an American novelist, journalist, and short story writer from the early 20th century who survived two world wars, spying for Soviet Russia, the revolution in Cuba, and four wives. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 and was probably best known for his affiliation with ‘The Lost Generation’ that resided in Paris in the 1920s – however, there is so much more to Papa Hemingway than his writing. Today, we are going to dive headfirst into the crazy, dangerous, incredible life of arguably one of the greatest American authors and discover what it was that made this crazy son of a bitch tick.