You seem to follow with 3 likely different interpretations of the same behavior.
The key thing is the pronoun. Nobody thinks of himself as a narcissistic contrarian. They rather think of themselves as a deep and original thinker.
Actually I suspect there are a few more self-aware ones who just have a grand old time dazzling people.
In order of decreasing likelihood:
Norman Mailer (and I was trying to think of someone probably living or more recently deceased who’s more Norman Mailer than Norman Mailer—any clues?)
Camille Paglia
Nicholas Nassim Taleb
The key thing is the pronoun. Nobody thinks of himself as a narcissistic contrarian. They rather think of themselves as a deep and original thinker.
Actually I suspect there are a few more self-aware ones who just have a grand old time dazzling people.
In order of decreasing likelihood:
Norman Mailer (and I was trying to think of someone probably living or more recently deceased who’s more Norman Mailer than Norman Mailer—any clues?)
Camille Paglia
Nicholas Nassim Taleb