In the words of Flannery O’Connor, “A good man is hard to find.” During the last century, many literary tastemakers and trendsetters did not stop to wonder whether a great writer even had to be a good man.

There were many “bad boys” of literature, including William Burroughs, Norman Mailer, and Ernest Hemingway. They achieved greatness despite the notoriety that was not only tolerated but, in some ways, rewarded.