Voting Station

Irving Stone

Please vote to return to collections.

Author

The Resume

    (July 14, 1903-August 26, 1989)
    Born in San Francisco, California
    Birth name was Irving Tannenbaum
    Author known for his biographical novels about historical personalities
    Wrote 'Lust for Life' (about Vincent Van Gogh; 1934) and 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' (about Michelangelo; 1961)

Why he might be annoying:

    His first wife's explanation for their divorce: 'I got bored having to sit around all day telling Irving how wonderful he was.'
    'Lust for Life' was rejected by 17 publishers.
    His second wife and editor, Jean, noted about his first drafts, 'He repeated himself a lot, as if he did not trust his readers to understand what he was writing.... It was a teacher's clarity, with too much detail, minutiae.'
    He claimed that cheese sandwiches were the only food he could eat while writing.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He and Jean were married for 55 years.
    He said a Van Gogh exhibition he went to in France was 'the single most compelling and emotional experience of my life.'
    He spent years researching the historical facts in his novels.
    Historian Allan Nevins wrote, 'His books on historical figures have given a lively impression on the past to hundreds of thousands of readers who could have been reached by no method less vivid and vigorous than his.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying