In 1925, while he was teaching at a boy's school in Wales, the young Evelyn Waugh attempted suicide by swimming out to sea. After getting fairly far from shore, he was forced to turn back: a shoal of stinging jellyfish had beset him. Macabre, comic, and ironic, this incident epitomizes Waugh's entire

Agitated, Angry, Clever, Realist fiction, Religious, Sardonic

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott II has shaped the modern, urban British landscape -- even if many people don't know it. His work is as archetypically British as golden arches were, once upon a time, essentially American. Scott is responsible for those bright red telephone boxes gracing Great Britain since 1

Bright, Classical architecture, Decorative, Elegant, Pioneering, Religious

Drawing from a tradition that embraces excess -- whether it be in poetry, rock 'n' roll, life, or all of the above -- Patti Smith brings passion and wit to her rough-edged, anarchist music. Her songs recall the lives of such debauched, ecstatic souls as Rimbaud, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and James

Agitated, Bombast, Dissonant, Gritty, Hard rock, Punk, Religious, Rough

"It's very interesting because in my own life, I'm very private and low-key. For my work it's just the opposite; I want to be involved with the audience and society. My work, actually, is not art for art's sake; it's more on the cultural side and the way you talk about culture can extend to politics,

Citational, Deconstructive, Eclectic, Expatriate or third space artists, Religious