Maxwell Perkins(01 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas WolfeOften called the most famous literary editor, Maxwell Perkins's resume speaks for itself. He was heavily involved in the development of the following: The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man And The Sea, Cry The Beloved Country, From Here To Eternity, Look Homeward, Angel, and Of Time And The River. Perkins was a close friend of Fitzgerald's (to whom he loaned money) and Hemingway dedicated The Old Man And The Sea to him.
Nathaniel Branden(02 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Ayn RandFollowing The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand moved to New York City where she met Nathaniel Branden (and also Alan Greenspan) and began work on what eventually became Atlas Shrugged. Branden pushed her mentally and became an intimate companion: the two had an affair, with the consent of both spouses. He was crucial in developing Rand's Objectivist theories and today is a psychotherapist and lecturer still promoting the ideas the two of them cultivated.
Alexander Selkirk(03 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Daniel DefoeAlexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor who spent four years without human contact on an island off the coast of Chile. Daniel Defoe heard of Selkirk's exploits and wrote a book called Robinson Crusoe. The island on which Selkirk spent four years had its named changed to "Robinson Crusoe Island" in 1966.
Constance Garnett(04 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Almost everyone who has read an English translation of a famous Russian literary workConstance Garnett translated Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gogol, and other famous writers into English, some of them for the first time. In the years following the publication of her translations, some have criticized them. But even today, many new translations (including the Norton edition of The Brothers Karamazov) base their revised versions on her original translation.
Auguste Maquet(05 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Alexandre DumasMaquet worked on 18 novels with Dumas, but he wasn't so much of an influence as he was a co-writer. Maquet laid out the plot and put in characters, while Dumas polished off his foundation with dialogue and detail. His name was left off the publications at the publisher's order, but, in the end, Dumas died in poverty while Maquet spent his last years comfortably living off his own wealth.
Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe(06 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Edgar Allan PoeMuch has been said about the age difference and the blood relation, but the bond between Virginia Clemm and Edgar Allan Poe is undeniable. "Annabel Lee," "The Raven," and "Ligeia" are all thought to be directly influenced by her, and she even sat next to him while he wrote, keeping his pens and papers in order. Poe died two years after her, and the last years of his life were marked by intense depression as a result of losing her.
Huey Long(07 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Robert Penn WarrenThe similarities between US Senator Huey Long and All The King's Men's Willie Stark are numerous--right down to the similar way in which both men meet their end. Robert Penn Warren stated that his book "was never intended to be about politics," and it does seem that Long was more of a springboard for his novel, which creates a nuanced portrait of a corrupted man. Saying Willie Stark is Huey Long is reductive.
Vera Nabokov(08 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Vladimir NabokovVladimir and Vera Nabokov were married for 52 years and though much of her influence on his writing is hard to quantify, it's safe to say that his work would be different had he never met her. The most famous story is that she stopped her husband (repeatedly) from burning Lolita. She played chess with him, took over his classes when he was sick, and was his muse and constant companion.
Mocha Dick(09 of09)
Open Image ModalInfluenced: Herman MelvilleMocha Dick was the real-life Moby Dick. He was a Sperm Whale, curiously white, that lived in the early 1800s off Chile's Mocha Island. He was notorious for surviving whaling attacks and became a legend among sailors. The exact size and the date of his death were disputed (possibly because there were more than one white whale at the time). He was at least 70 feet long (or up to 110 feet long) and lived at least until 1839, the same year Captain Jeremiah Reynolds published a first-hand narrative encounter with Mocha Dick in Knickerbocker Magazine. The magazine was read by Herman Melville.