I stink with templates and this doesn’t capture the nuances I would like (effin nuclear family again), but I wanted to convey how authors are like family for me. Some of them for better or worse. The family reflects influences on my life, not an estimation of my talent. What’s your literary family?
So white, so male…so happy to have discovered Substack, so look forward to this changing. I’d love to do one for music, much more flattering to my image :)
I grew up reading the great-grandparents, having skipped children and YA lit. I stopped reading literature almost completely in my late-20s and have only recently restarted. Here’s some footnotes if you are interested.
Hannah Arendt - author of Eichmann in Jerusalem and The Origins of Totalitarianism. She is critical in my understanding of the social structure and psychology of evil. She had an affair with Heidegger, philosopher and Nazi.
Albert Camus - I prefer The Plague and The Rebel, works where he emphasized solidarity in societies that legalize murder.
Military History - Sadly addicted to reading this stuff from an early age. Only kicked it a year ago. There is a complex interaction between this, being a Jew, being a male sexual abuse survivor and having veterans in my family. Most military history is propaganda.
Mary Daly - Incredible feminist writer who blew my mind with her deconstruction of institutions and language - history = his/story, therapist= the/rapist. I was very upset to find out she was transphobic.
L.F. Celine - Author of Journey to The End Of The Night. Major influence on Henry Miller among others. Nazi collaborator, called for the extermination of the Jews.
Seneca The Younger - Stoic philosopher, whose suicide was an influence on my suicidal thinking when I was about 7.
Phillip K. Dick - A Scanner Darkly is my favorite. Vulcan’s Hammer, an early novel about warring computer systems, seems to have new relevance.
Mickey Spillane -wrote violent, sexist, transphobic pulp about Mike Hammer, Private Eye. Gotta love how boys are socialized.
Edgar R. Burroughs/ Robert E. Howard - John Carter/ Conan. From them to Gamergate, probably not a stretch.
H.P. Lovecraft - cosmic horror still hits hard. A terrible racist.
T.S. Eliot and Dostovesky [(sic)too much trouble to correct and reformat] Prufrock and Crime and Punishment, right? Both anti-Jews.
Mike, it's great how you handle these complex relationships. You acknowledge their flaws but still recognize their impact. Maybe there’s a new branch waiting to grow, filled with voices that resonate with the diversity and richness of today’s literary landscape. I'm excited to see how your "family tree" develops!
Cool idea. I like the family tree of influence