SOURCE: "Lester Dent and Doc Savage: Heroes and Adventurers", in Bigger Than Life: The Creator of Doc Savage, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1990, pp. 85-94.

In the following essay, Cannaday examines affinities between Lester Dent and his fictional hero Doc Savage.

To 'live dangerously' is for them an act of self-indulgence, not loyalty.

Paul Zweig, The Adventurer

Lester Dent and Doc Savage were seekers of adventure, risk-takers whose lives were interwoven. Dent invented imaginative, far-flung adventures for Doc Savage and experienced them vicariously through the writing process; meanwhile, his own travels and exploits enriched the Doc Savage stories. Not one to sit at his desk at home creating fantasies, Dent was an inquisitive explorer, a man of great energy and action who carried his writing with him whether traveling in Europe or sailing his schooner.

Paul Zweig in his book The Adventurer (Princeton University Press, Princeton, N...