Famous Authors' Bizarre Obsessions

By Emily Temple for Flavorwire:

We tend to put our favorite authors on a pedestal, and in some ways when we do that, we turn them into characters themselves, figures whose every action, whim, and interest should fit into the tidy package of our understanding. However, authors are real people (thank goodness) and sometimes they can surprise us by being into something that seems a little off-kilter for them — or just in general. With all the recent hubbub on book blogs about Martin Amis’s resurfaced video game guide (so it’s okay to write about Space Invaders, but penning children’s books is totally lame?), we got to thinking about other authors and their obsessions, from the literary to the musical to the, um, extra-terrestrial. Click through to check out our list of famous authors’ unlikely obsessions, and try not to be alarmed at what you may find.

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Comments

[InWhichImKinsey]

11:12 AM on 02/25/2012

you forgot @realjohngreen - Famous Last Words

[bmitche]

03:09 PM on 02/23/2012

Some authors have bizzare obsessions. Maybe it has something to do with their creativity. Even some of the great poets were weird. If I had to describe Percy B. Shelly, I would call him a psyhotic, neurotic, poetic genius.

[uberconservative]

01:59 PM on 02/23/2012

Gee I thought Capote's other passion was little boys!

[phockitol]

02:50 PM on 02/23/2012

What's the difference between Truman Capote and the Bermuda Triangle?..................
The Bermuda Triangle is still swallowing seamen.

[jenniferkizzy]

01:56 PM on 02/23/2012

by the way t.s elliot his was the end of the world bye

[jenniferkizzy]

01:56 PM on 02/23/2012

my obsessions too dark and numerous too count or write down ts elliot

[BIGBADWOOF]

01:18 PM on 02/23/2012

Capote was famous because he was famous... the closed loop of celebrityhood.. Capote...Salinger...if the Modern Language Association -- the trade guild of English teachers -- liked you, you were set for life.

[Joseph Migliore]

01:09 PM on 02/23/2012

Did Capote smoke pole?? I read that somewhere.

[Harry Hurt]

12:05 PM on 02/23/2012

So Flannery O'Connor taught the family chicken to walk backwards? That shouldn't be very hard to do. Just put Obama's brain in it. The chicken was probably a democrat, and learned well.

[jimtpat]

03:37 PM on 02/25/2012

My avatar sez lay off the chicken brain humor!

[Greenblue]

12:05 PM on 02/23/2012

I googled Victor Hugo's drawings.. wow..

[Denizio]

11:53 AM on 02/23/2012

Who's Patti Smith?

[Denizio]

11:47 AM on 02/23/2012

Yeh, I saw UFO's too. Right after I finished a bottle of Jack Daniels

[john blahuta]

12:20 PM on 02/23/2012

only one? it takes 2 for me.....

[Gary Sawyer]

11:39 AM on 02/23/2012

Capote should have spent time on improving his speaking style so he would have sounded more like an adult.

[Johnny Mucous]

11:01 AM on 02/23/2012

Brian Jones liked teenage girls and fashion models. I think he would have become physically ill if he ever laid eyes on Patti Smith. She has to be one of the ugliest people in the media.

[Gary Sawyer]

11:41 AM on 02/23/2012

Well then Brian Jones was pretty normal if that's what he liked.

[gutz54]

10:12 AM on 02/23/2012

Trumans passion was a 10 in piece of wood

[dda501958]

10:05 AM on 02/23/2012

Capote both pitched and caught, lol

[ssj455]

10:49 AM on 02/23/2012

I'm sure you and he have something in common.