Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound believed that he was a genius. Lots of people thought he was a charlatan (a fake).

Politically, it doesn't get much worse than Pound: fascist, anti-semite, anti-American, etc.

Yet, he wrote some of the most influential poetry of the early 20th century. In some ways, he co-authored TS Eliot's famous "The Wasteland." Here's a link to the first part 1/4 of a youtube documentary on Pound.