His grandfather Samuel Martin Inman owned part of the Atlanta Constitution but derived his wealth from cotton trade and manufacturing.
[4] A critic has described Inman as "a mediocre talent, wholly lacking in the sophisticated literary and philosophical education of the Ransom generation.
On December 5, 1963, when he found the noise from the construction of the Prudential Tower near his apartment unbearable, he committed suicide with a revolver in Brookline, Massachusetts.
[citation needed] Harvard professor of English and American literature Daniel Aaron published a two-volume edition of selections in 1985.
[9] Reviewing the two-volume edition, Time described Inman as a "megalomaniacal bigot misogynist Peeping Tom hypochondriac," who "hated Jews, Italians and Roosevelt while admiring Hitler.
[13][14] According to Harley Peyton, producer of the television series Twin Peaks, the character and behavior of the recluse Harold Smith were based on Inman.