Lists

Awesome Literary ‘Staches

Rachel Manwill

Staff Writer

Rachel Manwill is an editor, writer, and professional nomad. Twice a year, she runs the #24in48 readathon, during which she does almost no reading. She's always looking for an excuse to recommend a book, whether you ask her for one or not. When she's not ranting about comma usage for her day job as a corporate editor, she's usually got an audiobook in her ears and a puppy in her lap. Blog: A Home Between Pages Twitter: @rachelmanwill

You may or not be aware that we’re in a special month now. No, it’s not just November. It’s MOVEMBER (also known as No Shave November). Which means that a significant number of men in my life will be letting their razors rust for a full 30 days to raise money and awareness for men’s health issues like prostate cancer. There’s a website and everything. It’s awesome.

Being a member of the fairer sex, and being slightly follicularly envious, I thought this would be the perfect time to pay a little bit of tribute to some spectacular facial hair in the world of literature. I certainly would like to play mysterious or a little bit evil by twirling my handlebar once in a while. The authors pictured below have some amazing mustaches and they’re also heavy-weights in the book world. Coincidence? I doubt it.

I hereby give you my Top Eight Literary Mustaches!

1. Iambic Pentameter ‘Stache: William Shakespeare
2. Quoth the Raven ‘Stache: Edgar Allan Poe
3. Scandalous French ‘Stache: Gustave Flaubert
4. Great American Steamboat ‘Stache: Mark Twain
5. Existentialist ‘Stache: Fredrich Nietzsche
6. Russian Underground ‘Stache: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
7. Really Russian Anarchist ‘Stache: Leo Tolstoy
8. Elementary, Watson, ‘Stache: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

Any other literary ‘staches I missed? Any modern ones? Any male authors want to get in on this?