Who Am I?

March 17, 2008 11:16 AM

My brother is being tormented by being unable to identify a mental image of a photograph of a man who he believes to be an author. He can't recall a lot of details, but here's what he has; I told him if anyone could help, it would be you guys, so don't let me down. :) - Male, relatively young, dark hair, beard - Probably an author, or if not, at least someone well-known - Possibly German or Russian, maybe of Jewish descent - Name may be Joseph or something similar, but not Stalin - Pretty sure it's a black & white photograph, which probably places him in the early 20th century I know this isn't a lot of information, but I figured it was worth a try.... Thanks!
posted by greenmagnet to Grab Bag (26 answers total)

Response by poster: Oops, meant to put the list in the extended description to make it look presentable. Here it is again; sorry about that.

- Male, relatively young, dark hair, beard
- Probably an author, or if not, at least someone well-known
- Possibly German or Russian, maybe of Jewish descent
- Name may be Joseph or something similar, but not Stalin
- Pretty sure it's a black & white photograph, which probably places him in the early 20th century
posted by greenmagnet at 11:19 AM on March 17, 2008

Joseph Conrad? (more)
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:30 AM on March 17, 2008

Joseph Pulitzer? (more)
posted by ND¢ at 11:32 AM on March 17, 2008

Joseph Heller?
posted by santojulieta at 11:37 AM on March 17, 2008

Not a Joseph, but German and Jewish - Walter Benjamin?
posted by suedehead at 11:44 AM on March 17, 2008

Antonio Gramsci, Russian socialist writer (who contrary to my recollection did not wear a beard)

Wikipedia list of Russian Writers
posted by Brian James at 11:47 AM on March 17, 2008

Franz Joseph?
Franz Kafka?
posted by kuujjuarapik at 11:49 AM on March 17, 2008

There are a lot of 'probably's and 'maybe's in your description. If I'm reading correctly, these are the things you know for sure: it's a photograph of a man with dark hair and a beard.

Does your brother remember anything about the hair or beard style?
posted by box at 12:02 PM on March 17, 2008

Mircea Eliade? (Romanian, Novelist and Religious Scholar, often compared to Jung and Joseph Campbell.)
posted by numinous at 12:10 PM on March 17, 2008

Rasputin?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 12:30 PM on March 17, 2008

Martin Buber? -- German and Jewish but not a Joseph
posted by MasonDixon at 12:38 PM on March 17, 2008

You may also try typing things like "German Authors" or "Polish Composers" into a Google Image search.
posted by MasonDixon at 12:39 PM on March 17, 2008

The New Yorker had a striking image of a composer in it... Probably Feb-April of 2007. How long ago did he see this image?
posted by unixrat at 12:42 PM on March 17, 2008

Ah, Morton Feldman. Not the image I was remembering, but qualifies for everything other than B&W.
posted by unixrat at 12:47 PM on March 17, 2008

Argh. Why do I not type what I'm thinking?

He doesn't have a beard, but it's otherwise correct.
posted by unixrat at 12:48 PM on March 17, 2008

Response by poster: Update from my brother:

Interesting suggestions, thanks -- but still no luck.

I'm terrible at describing people, which makes this difficult, but of the suggestions so far, Antonio Gramsci comes the closest in appearance. About the right age, wavy hair is correct, though my guy's hair is shorter. I believe his face is narrower than Gramsci's as well.

There's a chance that it's Max Weinreich, the Yiddish scholar. The only decent picture I've found of him is this and it doesn't seem quite right, but it's also somewhat close to my mental image. I also have the feeling that the picture is in a book I own, but I've flipped through the likely suspects and found nothing. If anyone's bored and wants to skim through my library for inspiration as to what sorts of people I might have have inexplicable mental images of, it's here.
posted by greenmagnet at 1:17 PM on March 17, 2008

There's Osip Mandelstam, but he doesn't seem to have had a beard when he was young.
posted by dilettante at 1:29 PM on March 17, 2008

How about Leo Tolstoy?

Its on your shelf.

Same with Dostoyevsky.

Max Weber?

Solzhenitsyn?

Durkheim?

Thorsten Veblen?

Thoreau?


alll these are on your Library Thing.
posted by Ironmouth at 1:51 PM on March 17, 2008

...but of the suggestions so far, Antonio Gramsci comes the closest in appearance...There's a chance that it's Max Weinreich, the Yiddish scholar...

Umm...did anyone else notice neither of those two have a beard? So did he or didnt he have a beard? This seems like a quickly moving target...
posted by vacapinta at 2:10 PM on March 17, 2008

James Joyce?
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:23 PM on March 17, 2008

(joyce is also in your library thing)
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:27 PM on March 17, 2008

Except for the beard your description sounds a lot like the old black and white portraits of Oscar Wilde.
posted by dinger at 3:27 PM on March 17, 2008

Again, no beard, but I'm just throwing it out there: Trotsky?
posted by teg at 3:29 PM on March 17, 2008

Franz Bretano?

Alexander Bogdanov?

Anton Chekhov? See also.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 3:41 PM on March 17, 2008

No beard and the name is a longshot, but could it be Jorge Luis Borges?
posted by invisible ink at 7:26 PM on March 17, 2008

This guy?
posted by gjc at 4:45 AM on March 18, 2008