As a writer, I have worshipped the legendary authors and poets before me. The ones who left a permanent mark in the world of words and shaped the very fabric of storytelling. I have done it all — binge-read their books in one sitting, soaked in the prose, and admired their world-building ability. These literary titans are my idols, but I recently found out that they are also humans after all.
It’s a strange thing when you realize that the genius behind your favorite novel might not exactly be the poster child for social grace. Just because someone can write a masterpiece doesn’t mean they are immune to saying something jaw-droppingly awful. Let’s take a look at some of the awful quotes said by the most famous writers and poets of all time:
1. Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)
“don’t wait for a good woman. she doesn’t exist. there are women who can make you feel more with their bodies and their souls but these are the exact women who will turn the knife into you right in front of the crowd. of course, I expect this, but the knife still cuts. the female loves to play man against man. and if she is in a position to do it there is not one who will not resist. the male, for all his bravado and exploration, is the loyal one, the one who generally feels love. the female is skilled at betrayal. and torture and damnation.”
— in a 1971 letter
Charles Henry Bukowski was born in Germany but moved to the United States at a very young age. He has written over 5,300 poems, and most of them are, safe to say, misogynistic. His blatant sexism is evident in his writing, which will leave you cringing, but it also provides a window into the psyche of a man who lived a life of excess, bitterness, and relentless pursuit of self-destruction.
He drank, gambled, and had sexual relationships with various women for most of his adult life and years beyond that. To put it bluntly, he was a womanizer. They are distractions to soothe his hunger or targets for his frustration. This is just one of the sexist things he has said about women.
2. Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)
“Many accepted authors simply do not exist for me. Their names are engraved on empty graves, their books are dummies, they are complete nonentities insofar as my taste in reading is concerned. Brecht, Faulkner, Camus, many others, mean absolutely nothing to me, and I must fight a suspicion of conspiracy against my brain when I see blandly accepted as “great literature” by critics and fellow authors Lady Chatterley’s copulations or the pretentious nonsense of Mr. Pound, that total fake. I note he has replaced Dr. Schweitzer in some homes.”
— from Nabokov’s 1967 interview in The Paris Review
Born in Russia, Vladimir Nabokov is perhaps the most controversial writer of all time because of his book, Lolita, a provocative book about pedophilia. His works often blend wit, wordplay, and intricate narrative structures.
Nabokov was also a renowned lepidopterist (someone who studies butterflies), and his passion for nature often seeped into his writing. As a bilingual writer, he wrote some of his works in Russian and others in English, which added layers of linguistic richness to his storytelling. However, one thing to note about him is that he had strong opinions about other authors.
This is what he said about Dostoevsky, “Dislike him. A cheap sensationalist, clumsy and vulgar. A prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. Some of his scenes are extraordinarily amusing. Nobody takes his reactionary journalism seriously.”
3. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
“A woman ruined Scott [Fitzgerald]. It wasn’t just Scott ruining himself. But why couldn’t he have told her to go to hell? Because she was sick. It’s being sick makes them act so bloody awful usually and it’s because they’re sick you can’t treat them as you should. The first great gift for a man is to be healthy and the second, maybe greater, is to fall [in] with healthy women. You can always trade one healthy woman in on another. But start with a sick woman and see where you get. Sick in the head or sick anywhere. But sick anywhere and in a little while they are sick in the head. If they locked up all the women who were crazy — but why speculate — I’ve known goddamned good ones; but take as good a woman as Pauline — a hell of a wonderful woman — and once she turns mean. Although, of course, it is your own actions that turn her mean. Mine I mean. Not yours. Anyway let’s leave the subject. If you leave a woman, though, you probably ought to shoot her. It would save enough trouble in the end even if they hanged you.”
— Hemingway to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, 1943
In the list of writers who died tragically, Hemingway’s name stands tall. Despite being one of the most influential novelists of the 20th century, he was depressed and succumbed to alcoholism.
But did you know that he was also a misogynist? His sexism is quite evident in the way he writes women. His books are full of sexist stereotypes. Apart from that, the way he spoke about Zelda Fitzgerald proves his chauvinism.
4. V.S. Naipaul (1932-2018)
“I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not. I think [it is] unequal to me… My publisher, who was so good as a taster and editor, when she became a writer, lo and behold, it was all this feminine tosh. I don’t mean this in any unkind way.”
— Naipaul to the Royal Geographic Society, 2011
V.S. Naipaul, the Nobel laureate, was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, to Indian parents. Naipaul’s work often grapples with themes of displacement, identity, and the clash between tradition and modernity.
He is known for his meticulous prose and his ability to capture the nuances of human experience, particularly in the context of former British colonies. He is undoubtedly a great writer but his opinion on female writers made me think less of him. He said that he doesn’t find any woman writer his literary equal. Yes, not even Jane Austen.
5. Norman Mailer (1923-2007)
“A little bit of rape is good for a man’s soul.”
— Mailer to an audience at the University of California at Berkeley, 1972
Norman Mailer was an American writer, filmmaker, and journalist who explored themes of masculinity, power, and American identity. His style of writing combined both realism and psychological depth. He is a Pulitzer winner, but his views on women deserve nothing less than a boycott.
His hatred for women is quite evident in his quote, “I hate contraception…it’s an abomination”. In addition to that, he stabbed his second wife twice in the neck and was accused of domestic violence by his fourth wife.
6. T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
“There are only a half dozen men of letters (and no women) worth printing.”
— Eliot to Ezra Pound, 1922 (when Virginia Woolf was writing)
One more Nobel Laureate, T. S. Eliot, the most famous poet of all time, hated women authors, and he was also anti-Semitic. He didn’t believe women writers were worth being published.
In his book T. S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form, there is a poem titled “Burbank with a Baedeker,” which reads, “The rats are underneath the piles. / The jew is underneath the lot. / Money in furs..” It’s clear that he hated Jews and women alike. Seems like Eliot had a knack for crafting verses that questioned the human condition, but it’s fair to say that he didn’t have any humanity in him.
7. J.K. Rowling
I swear to God, I love Harry Potter more than anything else in this world. However, the moment I read her transphobic tweets, I realized how important it is to separate the art from the artists.
Her tweets and essay ignited a firestorm of backlash, especially from the LGBTQ+ community and many of her fans, who accused her of dismissing the lived experiences of transgender individuals. Even though she is a phenomenal writer, she deserves to be canceled.
Conclusion
These authors have left a lasting legacy in the world of literature. However, their offensive, disturbing, and awful quotes remind us that they are, after all, flawed humans. We can appreciate their work but we shouldn’t love them blindly. When you dive into their stories, remember that their brilliance also comes with a side of controversy.
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