5 of the Most Mysterious Authors of All Time

Ferrante is the current Banksy of the writing world. Speculation over who Ferrante’s true identity remains at a fever pitch after not one but two attempts in 2016 to deduce it through deep-diving research (both people identified as Ferrante denied it). While there has never been a definitive statement from Ferrante as to her decision to remain anonymous, from letters she wrote to her editors it appears she enjoys a simple life and does not wish to be famous, which is reasonable enough—especially when your novels are international bestsellers that have slowly become some of the most widely-read books of all time.

Literally everything about B. Traven is disputed on some level. From his name, to his birthplace, to whether or not his writing was initially published in German or English, no one can state a single concrete fact about the man—except that he wrote some of the most popular adventure novels of the early 20th century, including the all-time classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, adapted into a film in 1948 by the legendary John Huston. In 1960 Traven submitted his final novel to his publisher, but the style and subject matter were so different the publisher rejected the book, believing that Traven had passed away and someone was attempting to use his name.

One of the founding authors of Gothic Literature, Radcliffe helped to legitimize the genre by writing novels in which supernatural events are eventually given perfectly reasonable explanations. Although her writing was celebrated in her lifetime and she earned good returns on sales, there is so little known about her life, planned biographies had to be abandoned completely for simple lack of information. Using every known detail of her life, you might be able to fill a few pages, which is remarkable for someone who was something of a literary celebrity in her time, and whose books remain in print to this day. A letter from Radcliffe to her mother-in-law discovered in 2014 supports a theory that many of the characters and relationships in her novels were based somewhat on her own life, so reading her novels might give us some clue as to who Ann Radcliffe really was—but we’ll likely never know.

Pynchon is a world-famous novelist no one could possibly pick out of a police lineup. Yes, you can find photos of him online—but none recent, and all, whether you realize it or not, disputed. Pynchon’s mystery is special, however: he is known to be very social, lives fairly openly in Manhattan, and manages to maintain his air of mystery simply by refusing all interview requests and avoiding any hint of a spotlight. He spurns any sort of publicity—but he also pokes fun at his own legend, appearing in episodes of The Simpsons (famously depicted wearing a paper bag with a question mark drawn on it), and often signs autographs or inscribes books with little doodles of pigs. The greatest mystery about Tom Pynchon might be how he manages to hide in plain sight in the modern age—and in a city that has thousands of closed circuit cameras set up.

Hawks’ has maintained near-perfect anonymity, despite seeing his novels sell millions of copies around the world. He wrote that he decided on the pseudonym while working on his first novel, The Traveler, partly because he idolizes George Orwell (a pseudonym, in case you didn’t know), and partly because the novel focuses on a future society where the citizens are accustomed to being watched and monitored at all times. He felt it would be hypocritical to seek publicity after writing a story warning against a loss of privacy. The very small amount of information about Hawks has been gleaned solely from his interviews and writings, making him one of the most mysterious working authors today.
Honorable Mention: It’s very difficult to find a copy of his book, but the novelist Chimo (Lila Says) may be the biggest mystery of all: According to his publisher, the manuscript was dropped off, handwritten in notebooks, and no one has ever met or even corresponded with the author. Now that’s how you remain a mystery.