Edith Newbold Wharton was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior design pioneer active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This woman was a badass – she was the first woman to ever win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, she was a world traveler, one of President Teddy Roosevelt’s BFFs, and on top of all that, is considered a war hero of WWI in France for the efforts and aid she offered to those in need. Raised in New York City, Edith was born into the upper class life, though unlike most of the women around her, she did not abide by the social standards of that day and age. Her writing career was limited until she saw herself married, though from that point forward her literary voice was one of the most influential of her day. While it did her no favors on a social level, Edith realistically depicted the lives of wealthy aristocrats in her work, focusing on materialism, moral code, and the decline of the Victorian Era. This exposure of their world was not received well, and Edith found that in certain circles she was blacklisted…not that she minded really. I have to admit I became oddly fascinated with Edith for so many reasons, but the one that really strikes me is her insistence on becoming a writer when everyone she knew discouraged her from education and intellect, including her parents. She had no second thoughts about pushing the conventions of her time, as well as challenging the norms during the age of tight collars. Are you ready for Edith? Fuck yes, let’s do this.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was a 20th century literary icon whose career spanned a whopping fifty years and includes the publication of fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of nonfiction. He is probably best known for his novel Slaughterhouse-Five, a book that while darkly satirical, also pulls from Vonnegut’s firsthand experience as a prisoner of war in World War II and pushes a relatively anti-war sentiment. I have had numerous requests to cover the life of Vonnegut, and I am going to admit I learned a lot about this author that I had never known before. Throughout his eighty four years, Vonnegut saw the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, I mean, the list goes on and on and on…its incredible to realize how much change one man could witness in just one life. And Kurt’s life definitely had its ups and downs…his once wealthy parents struggled during the 1930s when their money went dry, he fought and was captured in World War II, only to witness atrocities we might only see in our nightmares, he adopted his sister’s children when she and her husband died, and on top of all that, Vonnegut suffered from depression that nearly took his life in the mid 1980s. Oh, and let’s not forget that he kept steady work until his writing career was financially successful. This man was a fighter and a survivor, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself just yet – there are so many aspects of this writer to explore, the majority of which are quite dark and riddled with human tragedy. And what are those aspects, you might ask? Well, let’s get rolling with episode six, and see if you get there before I do.

Kurt Vonnegut, here we go!

Clive Staples Lewis, or as he was later called Jack, was an Irish born novelist, poet, essayist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, lay theologian, broadcaster, lecturer, and Christian apologist active during the 20th century, and he is probably best known for his series The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis’ immense career saw him publish around forty books, which have been translated into over three dozen languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. But as all of you know, it isn’t the literary works we tackle on this podcast, it’s the artist, and Jack was definitely one hell of a fascinating character. While he was a notable and extremely popular Christian apologist, this only came later in his life, as he was a staunch atheist from his adolescence until his early thirties. And while the majority of Lewis’ adult life was spent teaching at his alma mater, Oxford, he did for a time hold a position at Cambridge, and this aspect of his professional life is often overshadowed by his novels. Jack also carried on a longstanding love affair with one of his best friend’s mothers, fought in World War I, was best friends with JRR Tolkien as well as a member of the Inklings, and on top of all that, saw his death overshadowed, as President JFK was shot less than an hour after Lewis’ death. Mr. Lewis was a lover of beer, a smoker of cigarettes, and above all, he loved a good story. So let’s get episode five of Legacy rolling and dive into the life of none other than C.S. Lewis.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was a Russian novelist, short story writer, journalist, essayist, and philosopher active during the 19th century. His writing focused on a multitude of topics that stemmed from a constant study on human psychology during a time in Russia filled with political, social, and religious upheaval, though to give some perspective on his literary impact, Dostoevsky’s books have been translated into more that 170 languages. His best known novel, Crime and Punishment, is said to have been ‘the only thing read in 1866’, and while critics didn’t love it then, this book firmly established Dostoevsky as one of the greatest writers of his time. Along with many of his fellow Russians, Dostoevsky had a relatively tumultuous existence from the day he was born until the day he died: he was an epileptic, his father was believed to be murdered by his own serfs, he was imprisoned, nearly executed and exiled, AGAIN imprisoned in absolutely horrifying conditions, survived a number of wives and illicit affairs, battled a very serious gambling addiction, and then, of course, comes his career as a writer whose ideals were centered on the people of Russia, and their potential on a global landscape. He also was a very picky black tea drinker, a devout Eastern Orthodox Christian, and of course, loved him some vodka.

So let’s get started shall we, and dive right on into the life of Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most revolutionary and influential feminist thinkers of the Romantic Era at the end of the 18th century. As a writer and philosopher, Mary is perhaps best known for her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a piece that argues that the presumed inferiority of women to men is due to their lack of an equal education; however, Wollstonecraft’s genius stems far beyond this progressive and, for the time period, radical article. Not only did Mary fiercely advocate for female rights in her very short four decades of life , but she also was actively involved in the French Revolution, and was additionally present when the revolution went to hell and became the Reign of Terror. Wollstonecraft’s literary works regrettably spent over a century following her death being ignored and condemned by the intellectual community for her unconventional ideas AND due to her own lifestyle, which while nowadays we might see as rather ordinary, the Victorian and tight-collared 19th century folk definitively disagreed. But to a certain degree, you could probably understand why given the context – she had two children, one out of wedlock, suffered and survived two suicide attempts, was seen as an active traitor to Britain for her participation in the French Revolution, and let’s not forget the HORRENDOUS demand for gender equality. Mary Wollstonecraft is, by and large, a woman to be admired, one who loved openly and without stigma, a woman who worked her ass off to support herself, her sisters, and her friends through literary publications, and last but not least, set the groundwork for the future feminist philosophers that would follow in her wake.

So, let’s go ahead and get this episode rolling, shall we?

Henry Charles Bukowski, born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, was a German-American novelist, short story writer, and poet active during the mid to late 20th century. Holy shit, where do I even begin with this guy…well, to start, his writing was deeply influenced by his own life, and many of his works were relatively autobiographical, centering on the social, cultural, and economic environment of Los Angeles, where he lived for the majority of his life. To give you some perspective here, Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories, and six novels, altogether publishing over sixty books. The themes of his work reflect his own experience with writing, with working total crap jobs, bad relationships with women, and as you could probably guess, alcohol. And believe me when I also tell you that the FBI kept an open file on Charles for decades after WWII AND as a result of his column Notes of a Dirty Old Man, which ran in an underground LA newspaper called Open City. This week will be a tad different than usual everyone, and that is due to the fact that so much of Bukowski’s work is based on his own life, and otherwise, details on him are relatively limited. This means we will dive into a series of excerpts from two of his more famous novels, and determine ourselves just who the man Time magazine pegged “a laureate of American lowlife” really was.

Grab the drink of the week– you’re gonna need it, and let’s get episode two of season two started with none other than Charles Bukowski.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, known to most of us as F. Scott Fitzgerald, was an American writer active during the 1920s and 1930s whose more popular literary works were a reflection of the Jazz Age. If you’re drawing a blank, he’s the author of the American classic The Great Gatsby, a novel I am quite sure is required reading in every high school across America. He achieved success and celebrity at a very young age upon the publication of his first novel, This Side of Paradise, and after winning the heart of his muse, went on to live a parallel existence to that of his novel’s characters – a life of swimming in fountains, drinking champagne until dawn, and becoming one of the most coveted party guests during the Fitzgerald’s residency in New York City. But as we all know, you can’t live on top forever, and soon F. Scott and Zelda found that their large-living lifestyle on the Riviera took its toll – Fitzgerald turned to alcohol, and Zelda…well…she sort of lost it, later to discover her mental status had never exactly been healthy. Their return to America was littered with tragic circumstances, and F. Scott struggled to find his literary voice with the end of the Roaring Twenties and the start of the Great Depression. Phew. This week starts out like a shooting star and fades to black fast, so I hope you all are ready for it.

WE ARE BACK with all new episodes of Legacy: the Artists Behind the Legends!

William Shakespeare, the “Bard of Avon”, was a 16th-17th century English playwright, actor, and poet, a man widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. In grand total, Billy boasts 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other short works, and these pieces have all been translated into EVERY MAJOR living language, with his plays being performed more than those of any other playwright…ever. To date, no other writer’s reputation compares to his. Shakespeare was a writer of great intellect, with incredible perceptions of his characters brought to life with an unparalleled poetic power. Unlike so many before him, Shakespeare brought the stage to life, humanizing the performers of his plays and drawing the audience to invest into the play, as if they too were sucked into his imaginative story. For two decades, Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were THE sought-after entertainment, from English royalty down to the poorest of the poor, the only exception being the Puritans, but hey, let’s face it, those guys never liked anything that was remotely fun to begin with. He died with esteem, lived a life of accomplishment, and it is why we all still recognize and know his name and works when he is brought up. But who was William Shakespeare? What can we draw from history to tell us about this man and his substantial contribution to literature?

Well, that is what we are about to dig into.

It’s the season finale, so let’s wrap up this first season of the podcast by analyzing the life and legacy of William Shakespeare.

Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker was an Irish author known all over the world for his Gothic novel, Dracula, a book that has inspired a plethora of vampire-themed art and entertainment in the century following his death. What is lesser known about Mr. Stoker is that aside from a vast literary career of novels, short stories, non-fiction articles, and reviews, Bram was also the business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which included managing one of Britain’s greatest actors of all time, Henry Irving. This wasn’t just a short-lived gig either – Bram held this position for three decades until Irving’s death and his own health started to decline, and this position made him a friend and contemporary to some of the best writers and entertainers of his day, which included the British gentry and high society. This guy was a BIG deal, and yet Stoker seemed to like being the man who operated from the shadows, or better, the man working behind the scenes. So, in light of that, for episode 29 of Legacy, we are going to dig into the life of Mr. Bram Stoker and see just what this man was all about. After all, he created one of the most sinister and feared villains in fiction, and wrote a novel that to this day is heavily debated and discussed in classrooms and amongst scholars for a variety of reasons. Don’t forget either, that Bram was the man who stole Oscar Wilde’s girl…but wait I am getting ahead of myself here in excitement.

Here we go with episode 29!