useless trivia: What Word Means: To Shine In A Gaudy Manner?

Questions

Once wrote that every modern American novel is derived from "Huckleberry Finn"?

This Canadian-born author wrote "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Rape Fantasies"?

Among his short stories are "The Open Boat" and "The Blue Hotel":?

He wrote "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "The Devil's Dictionary"?

This New Jersey-born author/journalist wrote "The Armies of the Night"?