Why Strange People Make Good Authors   In the past several hundred years, and, much more than likely, long before, it has been an unusual and notable trend that some of English and American Literature's* most famous and thoroughly studied authors have also been some of the strangest people. In this sense, 'strangest' has, more often than not, come to mean alcoholic or drug addicted people with some type of mental problems, who in many cases, end up committing suicide. Take, for instance, F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner. Both of these famous and well-studied authors were serious alcoholics who died at very young ages. Ernest Hemingway and Sylvia Plath both felt their lives weren't beneficial or worthwhile enough and killed themselves. These are some of the best known and most commonly studied authors in today's high school English classes. And there are many more examples of people regarded as great authors who were definitely not mentally sound, respected members of society. Just one more illustration of this is Edgar Allen Poe, who was drug-addicted and deeply depressed (and probably at least a little insane) for most of his life. American and English literature are filled with people like this. What makes their work and themselves worth studying? Why do we usually say that such strange people were good authors? Why does practically every high school English literature curriculum include a detailed review of the works of authors like these? And why does no one wonder if it's a sound decision it is to teach easily influenced, young high school students about the drunken rantings of England's bizarre, old, inebriated, perverted, insane druggies, and call these same rantings fine literature? The answer is that there is something to be said for the way the human mind works in strange, unusual, and mentally, well, different, people. One of the things that makes literature appreciable is how it clearly captures human emotions and feelings. And in a person who's not thinking in the same overall way as the general populace, for example due to insanity, there is often nothing in their mind that would stop them from writing down exactly what they think. The literary reference which comes to mind is Poe's "the Tell Tale Heart". Even though the speaker goes through a normal range of human emotions, the way that he goes through this range is different and exaggerated in relation to a typical person. This is brought about by Poe's mental condition, which was not normal, to say the least; this exaggerated range of human emotions is what makes the poem worth examining. After murdering the old man, and while speaking to police officers who stop by, the speaker feels incredibly confident of himself, even going out of his way to enhance his 'ego trip' by 'showing off', taking dangerous risks that could easily get him caught. And he does this for no other reason other than to make himself feel even more pleased with his feeling genius. Although the way that this character (who almost definitely contains subconscious representations of Poe's actual personality) behaves is definitely exaggerated in relation to how a 'normal', mentally sound person would act in the same situation, almost every reader can relate to how this character feels, because of the deep (albeit exaggerated) human emotions which Poe wove into this particular work. And it is because of Poe's mental instability and (definitely) nonconformity, that he does not feel uncomfortable or improper writing about a character who murders his elderly roommate (purely due to appearance, no less), then goes out of his way to 'put on a show' for the police officers who come by afterwards to ask a few simple questions. The fact is, people who aren't thinking along the lines of socially accepted norms and conformity often won't ever consider what other people will think of their works; they aren't constantly thinking, "Oh, well, I shouldn't write that, that would make me seem like some kind of bizarre creep; the reviewers wouldn't like it either; better write instead something nice…". The nonconformist, and (for grave lack of better word) strange mind is not constantly thinking of what other people will think, and 'watching out' for the author's reputation. No, instead many of these 'strange' authors are simply not held back by the invisible constraints which, unbeknownst to us, stop us from writing some of our deepest, most genuine feelings. It simply wouldn't feel right to us. Additionally, it is very likely that these same 'strange authors' often feel greatly exaggerated emotions. For example, the (not that I would personally know this) emotional highs and lows brought upon a person by alcohol. Many of these (aforementioned) authors who were heavy alcoholics (or, come to think of it, drug addicts) probably felt emotions far stronger than those ordinary people typically experience. And as a result, they could record their very strong feelings in their writings, conveying powerful emotions more effectively than could a person with a 'normal' mind. So alcoholics and drug addicts are actually very good authors, because they can feel unusually strong emotions, then write about these emotions and convey the feeling to all that read their works. (Also, these alcoholics and drug addicts take the health problems and risks associated with these activities themselves, saving readers from these avoidable hazards.) So, after taking a closer look at the subject, I have realized that high school students are taught the literary works of strange people for very worthy and well thought-out reasons. It is these 'strange', extremely nonconformist people who can experience very strong emotions, and then retell them in a way which would not seem right to a normal person.   Plagiarism warning: Please read!