Frederick Rolfe

Frederick Rolfe (1860–1913), who styled himself Baron Corvo, was an English writer, artist, and photographer known for his idiosyncratic prose and turbulent life. After failing to become a Catholic priest, he channeled his religious ambitions into his most famous novel, "Hadrian the Seventh" (1904), in which the protagonist—a thinly veiled version of Rolfe—is elected pope and reforms the Church. Rolfe also wrote historical works such as "Chronicles of the House of Borgia" and the novel "The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole." His ornate, archaizing style and bitter satire of ecclesiastical and literary establishments earned him a cult following. Though he died in poverty in Venice, his work later influenced figures like W. H. Auden and Anthony Burgess. Rolfe's literary legacy rests on his singular voice and the strange, obsessive brilliance of "Hadrian the Seventh."