Salinger likely has an ASD of some sort, although maybe not AS. He claims there's no imagery or symbolism in his writing, i.e., everything is very literal. What little we know his behavior he does sound distinctly autistic. I think being a recluse perhaps has made him more eccentric, but that doesn't rule out having an ASD.
Poe was more likely bipolar than schizophrenic. I have never even read any argument that he had schizophrenia. Bipolar better fits his mood swings, his bouts of severe derpession and creative episodes of hypomania, and his inclination to self-medicate with addictive substances. Both bipolar and substance abuse - espeically combined - can induce psychosis.
I see no evidence of an ASD in Capote. Sorry. He did have psychological issues, as pointed out.
Kerouac may have had a learning disorder of some kind, but most likely it was ADHD, not a ASD. From what his wife and daughter say of him, he acted very much like an adult with undx'd ADHD. He clearly had Executive Function Disorder, which can occur with either ADHD or AS, as evidenced by his low impulse control, difficulty handling personal responsiblities, poor organizational skills, and avoidence issues.
I can't say anything detailed about Burroughs, but I think he was just a drug addict rather than someone with an ASD. That's my take.
Pynchon - uh, maybe. He certainly is verbose and pedantic.
Thompson - no. Perhaps a learning disorder, like ADHD, and he was definitely "altered" by his long term alcohol and drug use. But I've read Hell's Angels - do you seriously think an Aspie could do that? Go hang out with Hell's Angels and not get the crap beaten out of them? I don't.
I also thought Nabokov was thought to be bipolar. I could be wrong.
I don't know who Traven is.
Shakespeare - that's hilarious. Sorry, but his grasp of the subtle nuances of human behavior and society in his plays should make a good case that he wasn't. And what we know of him is sketchy and largely incomplete, so I don't know what evidence you could dig up to say he was an Aspie, unless you go the "Every genius in history has to be an Aspie" route, which is just dumb.
Asimov - yeah, I can see that. He could be pretty naive about people, even though he had a very sophisticated grasp of scientific things. Heinlein was like that too. They're probably both Aspies.
I strongly suspect Joseph Conrad had AS. He had very high verbal intelligence, but piss poor social skills. Mostly friendless throughout life, he did befriend Ford Maddox Ford and became overly dependant on him, as Conrad, despite being a highly intelligent person, had great difficulty taking care of himself. While they were roommates, Conrad drove Ford to near insanity with his hypersensitive personality. Conrad was known to have metldowns, relied heavy on routines, hated change in his environment, and avoided socializing. He was regarded as difficult, rude and uncouth by many people. Most of his novels deal with solitary protagonists "pitted" against society and societal norms.
I've read some arguments that Throreau had AS. That seems likely to me, from what of his writings I've read, although I don't know enough Thoreau himself to form a personal opinion on that.
I also think the American poet Robinson Jeffers probably had AS. He lived in solitude away from society a lot, but wasn't an "eccentric" per se. Said to be a child prodigy in writing and literature, he had an early "intense" interest in classical literature and languages that he maintained throughout his life. His writing style, at times so verbose it's genuinely epic, was highly idiosyncratic for his times (and since), and he did seem to be a bit "obsessed" with certain topics and themes. His poetry avoids relational person-to-person explorations, perferring to explore humanity more philosophically in its relationsip with nature. Jeffers also had an approach to poetry that challenged some then unquestioned norms about what poetry is. His tendency to question the status quo carried over into to other matter. At times he seemed to possess rather naive and myopic opinions, as when he challenged the popular support of the American people to go to war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
22 Oct 2007, 10:04 pm
