The poet Karl Shapiro, in his introduction to the 1961 American publication of Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer," said, "Morally I regard Miller as a holy man'Gandhi with a penis." This was Miller's first book, and its pages were rife with full, frontal descriptions of sexual joy and despair. He ha

Beats, Bombast, Ebullient, Ecstatic, Erotic, Improvised, In-your-face, Manic, Modernist literature, Overflowing, Perverse, Post-war literature, Sincere

Almost from the beginning Audre Lorde questioned the fundamental tag of identity: her name. As a chubby, unruly five-year-old, she dropped the "y" from "Audrey," enjoying the aesthetic balance that "Audre Lorde," with its double "e," created on her blue-lined notebook paper. Later in life she would a

Agitated, Angry, Bombast, Feminist, In-your-face, New black aesthetic, Power, Visceral

Sometimes sublime and tender, sometimes raving and frightening, Janis Joplin's vocals had a raw energy unmatched by any white blues singer of her time. And Joplin lived as wildly as she sang. Although she was born into a comfortable, middle-class family in Port Arthur, Texas, she always seemed to be

Bombast, Classic rock, Gritty, Primal, Psychedelic music, Visceral

Even before he was born, Quentin Tarantino was being prepared for the entertainment business. His mother named him after Quint, the Burt Reynolds' character from "Gunsmoke." By the time he was two she had moved the family from Tennessee to the movie capital of the world, Los Angeles. When he was eigh

Bombast, Profane, Sardonic, Wise assy