Literary Genius
A Cathartic Inspiration

  How Does One Become A Literary Genius?

For starters it is not inherited. It is acquired. This book is an exploration into what makes the literary genius tick. Is it style, panache, or a way with words? Are the good ones normal, happy, or content? Not so, says Landrum, convinced he knows the pathway to creative expression. The following work delves into the inner drives that motivated Mark Twain, the passions that inspired Dostoevsky, the rebellion found in Shaw, and the sadism of Ian Fleming's James Bond creation. What pushed Agatha Christie to write Detective Mysteries, led Hemingway to become the virtuoso of the short story, made Dr. Suess the hero of Children's books, Danielle Steel a Romance Queen, and caused Stephen King to become the Maestro of the Macabre? Cathartic inspiration was a common theme, but he also says, "they were all just mad enough to excite, but not too wacky to get published; passionate enough to titillate, without being decadent; daring without being destructive; imaginative within the bounds of credibility; manic without cracking, mystical within the boundaries of rationality; and driven enough to overcome adversity. But normal or happy they were not."