Reclusive Authors

A hermit is simply a person to whom civilization has failed to adjust itself. – Will Cuppy

There’s a certain mystique attached to the idea of recluse writers. I can easily visualize the passionate author who lets nothing interfere with his work—living each moment only to find the perfect word, phrase or sentence. In many ways it sounds like an ideal life.

I like solitude. There are times when I think I could easily be a recluse—simply reading and writing as the world spins around me. Then I realize how much I enjoy my family and friends, going out to lunch and dinner, shopping and traveling and know I couldn’t be a hermit for long.

An article on Flavorwire.com, “In Defense of Privacy: The 20th Century’s Most Reclusive Authors,” went a step further to convince me that reclusiveness wasn’t the lifestyle for me, but it did contain a lot of juicy tidbits. For instance Marcel Proust soundproofed his studio with cork walls and installed layers of heavy curtains to keep the light out.

“He looked like a man who no longer lives outdoors or by day, a hermit who hasn’t emerged from his oak tree for a long time.

Before he died of pneumonia and a pulmonary abscess in 1922, there was a three year period where Proust rarely (if ever) left his apartment. Dramatic, for sure, but he’s got nothing on Ms. Emily Dickinson, who didn’t leave her family compound for 20 years.”

Most authors would be ecstatic to have their book catapult into instant commercial success like Catcher in the Rye. However J. D. Salinger requested, “…his photo be removed from the dust jacket of future editions and his agent burn any fan mail.”

According to Salinger, “There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. It’s peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure… I pay for this kind of attitude. I’m known as a strange, aloof kind of man.”

Other authors in the article are Denis Johnson, Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy and Harper Lee. McCarthy was on Oprah and Pynchon appeared as himself (albeit he had a paper sack on his head) on the Simpsons so I’m not sure they really qualify as true recluses.

Onlineuniversity.com also compiled a list of reclusive authors/artists. The list had many of the same authors , but also included Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson.

“Following his 1995 retirement, Watterson has spent most of his time painting and drawing in the company of his father and turning down any and all autographs, public appearances, and appeals to license his iconic characters.”

Because she wasn’t part of the 20th century, Emily Dickinson only received a slight mention in the first article. She wrote over 18000 pieces, but only published a small number of them.

“Her exile seemed to come more from a simple desire to stay at home and keep with her beloved hobbies and comfortable routine rather than the expected misanthropy, mental illness, desire for privacy, or disillusionment with fame and the media. On her rare excursions out, Dickinson would generally clad herself in the white dress that would eventually become her trademark.”

The biggest recluse I found, was Portuguese poet/author Fernando Pessoa. According to npr.org, “Pessoa, the man, was a bookkeeper. A loner. He had no friends, no loves, no family. He lived most of his life in a single room in Lisbon; his literary alter egos, and their writings, his only companions. He died in obscurity, a recluse, in 1935.

"The poets themselves may have been Pessoa's best creation, but his greatest literary achievement is The Book of Disquiet. It is a "factless" autobiography, filled with observations, aphorisms, ruminations, haphazard musings, dreams, moods and the keenest revelation of an artist's soul. What makes this book — this fictional diary — transcendent is that it deals with the eternal quests: the meaning of life, of death; the existence of God, good and evil; the questions of love, reality, consciousness; and the disquiet of the soul. It quenches the thirsty mind and floods the arid heart.”

I’m wondering, if in this age of multimedia marketing with numerous social sites like FaceBook and Twitter, is it even possible to become a recluse writer? Are you hermit material? Do you know of other writer recluses?


Tags: Will Cuppy, reclusive authors, hermits, Proust, Emily Dickinson, Bill Watterson, Pessoa, Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy, Salinger,