Depression is a serious disease. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, there is help:
JOHN BERRYMAN was born on October 25, 1914 in Oklahoma. When Berryman was eleven years old his father shot and killed himself. His mother then married the man she was having an affair with and John was told to call him "Uncle", leaving John in a very similar situation as Hamlet. The poet was always haunted by his father's death and expressed his emotions on the subject in his famous work "The Dream Songs". He attended Columbia University. In 1950 Berryman wrote a biography on author Stephen Crane, whom he deeply respected. In 1965 Berryman won the Pulitzer Prize for his work of poetry entitled "77 Dream Songs". Throughout his life he was an alcoholic and struggled with depression. He attended AA and was hospitalized multiple times. On January 7, 1972 he jumped to his death from the Washington Ave. Bridge in Minneapolis, MN. He was 57 years old. He left behind his third wife and two daughters.
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Suicide Prevention Resource Center. SPCR.org
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: AFSP.org
JOHN BERRYMAN was born on October 25, 1914 in Oklahoma. When Berryman was eleven years old his father shot and killed himself. His mother then married the man she was having an affair with and John was told to call him "Uncle", leaving John in a very similar situation as Hamlet. The poet was always haunted by his father's death and expressed his emotions on the subject in his famous work "The Dream Songs". He attended Columbia University. In 1950 Berryman wrote a biography on author Stephen Crane, whom he deeply respected. In 1965 Berryman won the Pulitzer Prize for his work of poetry entitled "77 Dream Songs". Throughout his life he was an alcoholic and struggled with depression. He attended AA and was hospitalized multiple times. On January 7, 1972 he jumped to his death from the Washington Ave. Bridge in Minneapolis, MN. He was 57 years old. He left behind his third wife and two daughters.
RICHARD BRAUTIGAN was born on January 30, 1935 in Tacoma, Washington. He had a very traumatic childhood. His mother had reckless relationships with multiple men that produced multiple children. Some men were abusive alcoholics. His mother once left Richard and his baby sister alone in a hotel room for two days. At age 20 he began writing while spending time in an Oregon mental hospital for schizophrenia and depression. He was treated with electroshock therapy. Known by many as having a "Peter Pan" complex, Richard was very childlike and could not mature with the times. He refused to learn to drive. His most famous novel was, "Trout Fishing in America." His style of writing was thought to be quite eccentric and had a cult following fan base. In the later years of his career he became more and more disappointed with his work and declining readership. He was an alcoholic and went through multiple marriages. His only child, a daughter, said her father had mentioned committing suicide on numerous occasions. On October 25, 1984 his badly decomposed was discovered in his California house. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 49 years old.
The information for this blog were found on many websites but mostly Wikipedia.com, also much thanks from the books "Final Drafts" by Mark Seinfelt and "Famous Last Words" by Ray Robinson.
TRUMAN CAPOTE was born Truman Persons on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Capote's mother was only seventeen when she gave birth. For the first four years of his life he was raised by his mother's family which inspired his famous short story "A Christmas Memory". Capote's mother became an alcoholic and eventually committed suicide. Growing up, Capote was neighbors with fellow writer Harper Lee. Rumor has it the character Dill in her novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" was based on him. Capote was known for being the extremely jealous type and always wanted the spotlight on himself. When Harper Lee won the Pulitzer Prize for "Mockingbird" it caused a serious strain on their friendship. Capote was best known for his novel "In Cold Blood" and his short stories such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's," both were made into films. Capote's stories were published in countless magazines throughout his career. Capote was openly gay and was partners with fellow writer Jack Dunphy. Capote's alcoholism and drug use did not serve his writing or personal life well. He never wrote another full novel after "In Cold Blood". He spoke frequently of a masterpiece he was writing called "Answered Prayers" but it was never completed. Instead he settled on making money by writing gossip stories and burning bridges with all his famous connections. By the late 1970's Capote was in and out of rehab facilities. When interviewed about whether he could beat his vices Capote answered "The obvious answer is that eventually, I'll kill myself....without meaning to. Capote died on August 25, 1984 from liver disease and multiple drug intoxication. He was 59. He left behind his partner. A few years later Dunphy's and Capote's ashes were scattered by their home in South Hampton, NY.
PAUL CELAN was born on November 23, 1920 in Romania. He was born Paul Ashschel to German-speaking Jewish parents. His parents were very involved in his schooling and in 1938 they sent him to France to study medicine. Shortly after, WWII began and Celan returned to his hometown to be with his parents. The synagog in his village was burned down and his family was rounded up and sent to a Romanian ghetto. On June 21, 1942 his parents were sent to an internment camp where they were killed. Celan was sent to a labour camp where he worked until the Russians freed them in February 1944. A lifetime of sorrow hung over Celan regarding the death of his parents. After his release he worked as a nurse in a hospital. From 1945-1947 he lived in Bucharest with fellow writers Gellu Naum, Rose Auslander, and Ilarie Voronca. In 1948 he moved back to Paris and his first poetry collection entitled "The Sand From the Urns" was published. In 1952 he married French artist Gisele Lestrange. In 1953 his son Francois died at birth. In 1955 he became a French citizen. Throughout the years he worked as a translator and lecturer. In 1958 he won the prestigious "Bremen Literature Prize" and in 1960 he won the "Georg Buchner Prize", both awards are still won today. In 1967 Celan and his wife separated, which set off his already lingering depression from the Holocaust. On April 20, 1970, during the holiday of Passover, Celan drown himself in the Seine river in Paris. A fisherman found his body on May 1. He was 49 years old. He left behind his wife and a second son, Eric.
IRIS CHANG was born March 28, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey. She was a historian whose most famous book was, "The Rape of Nanking," which is about the Japanese brutality against the people of China during WWII. Her maternal grandparents were survivors of the six week long attack. The book became a New York Times best-seller. Chang suffered from depression and in August 2004 she had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized. On November 9, 2004 after writing three notes to her friends and family she shot herself in her car. The notes suggest she may have been paranoid and delusional. She was 36 years old. She left behind a husband and young son.
HART CRANE was born on July 21, 1899 in Ohio. His father invented "Life Savers" candies and made a fortune in the candy business. He was an only child. While his parents were busy getting a divorce Crane dropped out of high school. He ran off to New York City and did odd jobs like a copywriter, while he tried to get his name into the literary world. In New York he was finally able to explore his sexuality as a homosexual. During the 1920s be became an alcoholic like so many artists at the time. T.S. Eliot was his idol. His first poetry collection "White Buildings" was published in 1926. As his drinking and depression grew he fled to Paris to try and focus on his next collection "The Bridge". However, his troubles followed him there and his drinking only increased, so did his philandering. Despite being published Crane still felt like a failure and he still battled with his own self-acceptance as being gay. On April 27, 1932 while aboard a steamship in the Gulf of Mexico he jumped overboard. His body was never found. He was 32 years old.
HARRY CROSBY was born on June 4, 1898 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was born into a very wealthy banking family. His aunt was married to J.P. Morgan. After high school he was sent to France to help in the American Ambulance Service during WWI. Hemingway also served in the ambulance corps but they would not meet till years later. He served on the front lines at the Battle of Verdun, this deadly scene would forever change his outlook on life. After that he claimed he no longer feared death and would live his life more freely. For his bravery, he and his fellow crew members won the French military mental, the Croix de guerre. In 1919 this made him one of the youngest Americans awarded such an honor. He graduated from Harvard in 1921. In 1922 he married Mary Phelps Jacobs, newly divorced and mother of two. Shortly after, they moved to Paris to join the Lost Generation of artists living there. Mary threw her kids in boarding school and they lived a very reckless lifestyle which included tons of alcohol, opium and multiple affairs. By 1923, Crosby quit his bank job provided to him by J.P. Morgan. Instead, he decided to try his hand at writing poetry and publishing works by struggling writers. Crosby self published his own volumes of poetry starting in 1925. Some of his known poetry books are "Shadows of the Sun" and "Transit of Venus" . Crosby became friends with Ernest Hemingway in 1926. In 1928 Crosby and his wife created the "Black Sun Press" that published works from writers such as D.H. Lawrence, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Hemingway, and Ezra Pound. On July 9, 1928 Crosby met a 20 year old, Josephine Rotch, a fellow Bostonian and feel madly in love. For a year the affair continued even though Josephine returned to the U.S. to get married. Finding no way that they could happily be with each other the two followed through with a suicide pact and shot themselves on December 7, 1929. Crosby was 31 years old, still married to Mary and had no children. Mary continued to publish books through "Black Sun Press" until her death in 1970.
JOHN DAVIDSON was born in Scotland on April 11, 1857. He is best remembered for his poetry and plays. Yeats and George Gissing praised his work. His published works never brought him much money. He was friends with George Bernard Shaw who tried to help him financially. Towards the end of his life he was distraught from poverty and suffering from depression. Davidson disappeared on March 23, 1909. Behind, he left a final manuscript for his book "Fleet Street Poems" and a note which his publisher place as the book's preface. His wife didn't want his death to be known as a suicide for then she would not receive the insurance money. Davidson's body was found in an English bay months later on September 18, 1909. He was 51 years old. He left behind his wife and two sons.
HENRY DE MONTHERLANT was born on April 20, 1895 in Paris, France. His mother was chronically ill after childbirth and was mostly bedridden until her early death at age 43. He was expelled from high school. By 1915 both his parents were death and he went to go live with his grandmother and several uncles. In 1916 he fought in WWI. He was sent home after being wounded. He then wrote "Songe" (Dream) an autobiographical novel about his time in the war. The book was part of an art and literature event at the 1924 Summer Olympic Games. de Montherlant had much critical success throughout his career with such novels as "The Bachelors", "The Young Girls" and "Chaos and Night". With his earnings he mostly traveled throughout Europe. He was gay and in 1968 he was beaten badly by a group of young men probably as a hate crime. The writer's eye was badly injured as a result of the fight and within four years he was going blind. On September 21, 1972 de Montherlant took cyanide and shot himself. His ashes were scattered in Rome. He was 77 years old.
MICHAEL DORRIS was born January 30, 1945 in Louisville, Kentucky. Dorris' father committed suicide during WWII and never met his son. In the 1970s an unmarried Dorris adopted three Lakota babies that suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. His struggle with his children's illness was the subject of his nonfiction book "The Broken Cord". His most popular novel was "A Yellow Raft in Blue Water." He was married to author Louise Erdrich ("Love Medicine.") She adopted his three children and had three more biological children with Dorris. The had a very unstable lifestyle, picking up the family and relocating many times. Their three adopted children were sent to either military or boarding schools for behavioral issues. After losing a son in a car accident in 1992 their marriage fell apart and they later divorced. Dorris turned to alcohol to deal with his depression. Months before his death three of his daughters made "sexual abuse allegations" towards him. Michael Dorris committed suicide by drugs and alcohol on April 11, 1997. He was 52 years old. The "allegations" were never proven true.
STUART ENGSTRAND was born on March 13, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the author of the novel "The Sling and the Arrow" about a marriage that falls apart due to the husband's homosexuality. He wrote the screenplay for the 1949 movie "Beyond the Forest" starring Bette Davis. On September 8, 1955 Engstrand walked fully clothed into a lake in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park and drown. He was 51. He left behind a wife of 20 years and two children.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD was born on September 24, 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Fitzgerald was named after his famous cousin Francis Scott Key, who wrote America's national anthem. His father was an alcoholic. While attending Princeton University he fell in love with a wealthy heiress named Ginevra King. Her family disapproved of his class status and forbid a romance. This woman was the muse for the character of Daisy in his timeless classic "The Great Gatsby." After the broke-up the suicidal Fitzgerald dropped out of college and joined the U.S. army. He was trained under the command of future president Dwight D. Eisenhower. During his service he met Zelda Sayre and in 1920 they married. Undiagnosed at the time Zelda was extremely mentally unstable, due to this they had a very difficult marriage which was fueled by alcohol. Fitzgerald was part of a group of American writers living in France during the 1920s. This group known as the "The Lost Generation". Other fellow writers were Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. Hemingway became one of his loyalist friends, although he despised Zelda and called her "insane" in his book "The Moveable Feast". While on vacation in 1930 Zelda died to kill the family in a road accident. Shortly after she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized for her remaining years. Fitzgerald's name would become one of the most well known in literature. His other popular books are "Tender Is the Night," "The Beautiful and Damned, and "This Side of Paradise." Despite his success Fitzgerald was always in debt due to his lavish lifestyle and Zelda's medical bills. Fitzgerald was hospitalized countless times in his life for alcoholism and two heart attacks. Doctors warned Fitzgerald multiple times about his alcoholism and that if did not stop drinking he would die. Fitzgerald chose death. He collapsed and died on December 21, 1940 from complications due to heart failure and alcoholism. He was 44 years old. Zelda died in a hospital fire in 1948. They had one daughter. His final book, "The Last Tycoon" was posthumously published in 1941.
ROMAIN GARY was born on May 12, 1914 in Lithuania. Gary served in WWII. Afterwards he became a French diplomat and novelist. He also wrote under the name Emile Ajar. He married actress Jean Seberg in 1962. They had one son the same year. The marriage dissolved in 1970 after finding out she was having an affair with Clint Eastwood. Seberg committed suicide at age 40 on August 30, 1979. On December 2, 1980 Gary shot himself to death. He left behind a suicide note stating he did not kill himself because of Jean's death but because of his lack of ability to write any longer. He was 66 years old.
HELEN PALMER GEISEL was born September 23, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. She was better known as the wife of famous children's author Dr. Seuss. She wrote many of her own children's books including the famous "A Fish Out of Water". As a child she contracted polio but made almost a full recovery. Her father died when she was 11 years old. She met her husband at Oxford University. They married in 1927 but were unable to conceive children. She was a major inspiration for her husband's work. After many years of suffering from illnesses including cancer Geisel committed suicide on October 23, 1967 by an overdose of barbiturates. She left a note to her husband explaining that her death was for the best. She was 69 years old. Dr. Seuss did not die until 1991 at age 87.
WAGUIH GHALI was born in Egypt on February 25, 1928? His father died when he was a child. Ghali dropped out of medical school. Ghali was a restless spirit and traveled all over Europe doing odd jobs for work. He suffered from depression, alcoholism and had a gambling problem. He is best known for his 1964 novel "Beer in the Snooker Club". By the 1960s Ghali was exiled from Egypt. He had a love affair with British writer, Diana Athill (1917-2019). While staying at Athill's apartment in London, Ghali swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills and died on January 5, 1969. He was around 40 years old. Athill fictionalized their relationship and his suicide in her book "After a Funeral".
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN was born July 3, 1860 in Pasadena, California. Gilman's father abandoned the family when she was an infant and she was usually taken care of by her aunt, writer Harriet Beecher Stowe. Gilman's most famous work is the short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," which she wrote while suffering from post-partum depression. She was ahead of her time speaking out about feminism and publishing the novel, "Herland." In 1932 she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. On August 17, 1935 she killed herself with an overdose of the poison chloroform. She was 75 years old. She was a widow and left behind one daughter.
LUCY GREALY was born on June 3, 1963 in Dublin, Ireland. She wrote the book "Autobiography of a Face" which is based on her struggle with jaw cancer as a child. She had to have part of her jaw removed which left her with a disfigured face. Lucy went through many facial reconstructive surgeries however towards the end of her life she was extremely depressed and became dependent on many painkillers. On December 18, 2002 she died of an overdose. She was 39 years old. She was best friends with writer Ann Patchett who wrote a memoir about their friendship called "Truth and Beauty".
WILLIAM LINDSAY GRESHAM was born on August 20, 1909 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was best known for his novel "Nightmare Alley" which was adapted in a movie in 1947 and 2021. He grew up in New York and was fascinated with Coney Island. He had many odd jobs throughout his life. His first two marriages ended in divorce. His second wife was poet, Joy Davidman. He had two boys with her. Gresham was an alcoholic and unfaithful in his marriages. Davidman, eventually divorced him, converted to Christianity and married fellow writer C.S. Lewis. Davidman died from breast cancer at age 45 and Gresham decided to allow his children to remain with Lewis in England. Gresham remarried a third time to Davidson's cousin. Later in life Gresham began attending AA meetings and finding faith. By the 1960's he was going blind and was diagnosed with mouth cancer. On September 14, 1962 he checked himself into a hotel in Manhattan and overdosed on sleeping pills. He was 53 years old.
SADEGH HEDAYAT was born in Iran on February 17, 1903. While attending a French university he could not decide in what field he wanted to major in. He changed from engineering, to architecture, to dentistry, to finally dropping out. Feeling lost, he tried to drown himself in the Marne river in 1927, but was rescued. His book "The Blind Owl" was published in 1937. The book was praised by Henry Miller. Regardless of the praise he received Hedayat still suffered badly from depression. On April 9, 1951 the author committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. He was 48 years old.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY was born on July 21, 1899 in Illinois. He was a world renown author famous for such works as "A Farewell to Arms," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "The Sun Also Rises," and "The Old Man and the Sea" which won him the 1953 Pulitzer Prize. He also was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway was out of eight children. He had a history of depression running through his bloodline. His father and two siblings committed suicide. Later, his granddaughter, actress Margaux, would also commit suicide. Hemingway was rejected by the army for poor eyesight so he served as an ambulance driver during WWI and a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War and WWII. He received a Bronze Star for bravery. In 1920 he became friends with fellow writer Sherwood Anderson. Hemingway would become part of the "Lost Generation" group of writers in Paris during the 1920s, that included Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Fitzgerald, Stein, etc. Throughout most of the 1930s-1950s Hemingway lived in Key West, Florida and Cuba. He took John Dos Passos fishing and was friends with Pablo Picasso, whom he visited in Spain. Hemingway was quite accident prone. Throughout his life he survived multiple car accidents and a plane crash in Africa in 1954. Towards the end of his life Hemingway was suffering from poor health. He was having more and more trouble focusing on his writing. He became extremely paranoid and his depression was so great that he received electric shock therapy. However, the only solution Hemingway ever found was at the bottom of a bottle. On July 2, 1961 when he could suffer no more Hemingway placed a shotgun up against his forehead and pulled the trigger. He was 61 years old. Multiple times married, he left behind his fourth wife and three children. His book "A Moveable Feast" was published posthumously in 1964.
O. HENRY was born William Porter on September 11, 1862 in North Carolina. Henry's first jobs were as a pharmacist and a bank teller. He eventually turned towards journalism and wrote over 400 short stories in his lifetime. One of his most famous is "The Gift of the Magi." He had an infant son that died and this grief added to his depression. While still working at the bank he was caught embezzling money and briefly had to abandon his family and flee to Honduras. He returned and surrendered to the court in 1897 when he found out his wife was dying from tuberculosis. He served three years in jail, in which time he wrote many stories. In 1907 Henry married again so his daughter could have a mother. In 1908 Henry's health rapidly declined. He was a heavy drinker which did not mix well with his diabetes. Due to his alcoholism his second wife left him in 1909 and less than a year later he was dead. He died on June 5, 1910 from cirrhosis of the liver. He was 47. Rumor has it one of the last words spoken from his lips were "Turn up the lights, I don't want to go home in the dark". His daughter died from tuberculosis in 1927 and is buried next to her father.
JOHN HEYGATE was born on April 19, 1903. He was an Irish novelist and journalist. Despite his writings he is mainly remembered for having an affair with fellow writer Evelyn Waugh's first wife. Waugh wrote a novel "A Handful of Dust" about the break-up of his marriage and made Heygate a main character. In 1930 he married Waugh's ex-wife but the marriage only lasted six years. Heygate was a graduate of Eton and was part of the socialite group known as the "Bright Young People". He was close friends with Anthony Powell. In 1937 he published "A House for Joanna". In 1940 he was knighted 4th baronet of England. He had two sons from his second marriage. His third wife died in 1968. Lonely and depressed Heygate shot himself on March 18, 1976. He was 72 years old. He left behind his two sons who both inherited the baronetcy.
ABBIE HOFFMAN was born Abbot Hoffman on November 30, 1936 in Massachusetts. He was a huge social activist. He wrote the cult classic book "Steal This Book." He was part of the hippie era and was arrested countless time during protests. He was also arrested for being disruptive during Woodstock '69. He was an Atheist. Towards the end of his life he had so many drug charges against him he became a fugitive from the law. In 1980 he was diagnosed as bipolar. On April 12, 1989 he died from a drug overdose of prescription pills. He was 52 years old. He left behind three children.
ROBERT E. HOWARD was born on January 22, 1906 in Texas. He was the only child of a family doctor. His mother contracted tuberculosis when he was a child and fought it for the rest of her life. At 18 years old he had his first science fiction story published in the magazine "Weird Tales". At 20 he made the cover, with a tale about a werewolf. He continued to submit his work to this science fiction magazine for many years. He worked odd jobs such as at a newspaper, at the post office, working for a Texas oil company, all till the writing paid off. By 1930, Howard was being frequently published in multiple sci-fi magazines. This is how through both their love of sci-fi Howard became close friends with fellow sci-fi writer H.P. Lovecraft. In 1932 Howard created the character that would bring him the most fame, Conan the Barbarian. Conan became so huge that he decided to write a full novel about the character called "The Hour of the Dragon". Towards the end of his life Howard started to write popular westerns. By 1936, his mother's fight against chronic tuberculosis had come to an end and her health was failing. On June 11, 1936 his mother slipped into a coma. Howard excused himself from her bedside and went to his car where he got a gun and shot himself in the driveway. He was 30 years old. He left behind his elderly father. He never married or had children. Although he was romantically linked to writer Novalyne Price, who wrote a 1986 autobiography about their years together, which was made into a 1996 independent film.
WILLIAM INGE was born on May 3, 1913 in Kansas. He was the last of five children. His brother Luther died at age 21 in 1920. In his early career he was a news anchor in Wichita, Kansas. From 1937-1943 he taught English and drama in Kansas and Missouri. In 1943 he became a drama critic for the St. Louis Star-Times Newspaper. Inge alcoholism got progressively worse and in 1947 he started attending AA meetings. He was friends with Tennessee Williams who encouraged him to write plays. Inge's play "Come Back, Little Sheba" won two acting Tonys in 1950. The 1952 film adaptation won both an Oscar and Golden Globe. In 1953, Inge's play "Picnic" won the Pulitzer Prize. The 1955 film version of "Picnic" won two Oscars. Inge's 1955 play "Bus Stop" was nominated for multiple Tonys and the film version starred Marilyn Monroe. He was nominated for many more Tonys and many of his plays were adapted into movies throughout his life. In 1961 Inge, himself won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for the movie "Splendor in the Grass". The last ten years of his life Inge had trouble writing up to his usual standards and slipped into a deep depression. On June 2, 1973 Inge ingested an overdose of barbiturates, however his sister saved him and put him in a hospital. Inge was determined though, for on June, 10, 1973 he killed himself with carbon monoxide in the Hollywood home he shared with his sister. He was 60 years old. He never married or had children.
CHARLES JACKSON was born on April 6, 1903 in New Jersey. In 1907 Jackson's siblings were killed while riding in a car that was hit by a train. After leaving Syracuse University he became a editor for small newspapers in New York and Chicago. He soon became ill with tuberculosis. From 1927-1931 he was recovering in the hospital. This isolation would eventually lead him to go on a drinking binge which became the outline for his novel "The Lost Weekend". In 1945 the novel was adapted into a movie starring Jane Wyman, which won the Academy Award for best picture. After the film's success he began heavily drinking and taking pills. In September of 1952 he attempted suicide and was committed to Bellevue. Months later he was readmitted for a nervous breakdown. In 1953 he joined AA, he remained loyal to the program for many years. Unfortunately, he never could fully recover. On September 21, 1968 Jackson was found dead from an overdose of prescription pills. He was 65. He left behind a wife and two children.
YASUNARI KAWABATA was born on June 11, 1899 in Osaka, Japan. By age four he was an orphan and was raised by his grandparents. His older sister died when he was eleven. By the time he was fifteen he had lost his whole family and was put in a boarding school. At 18 years old he moved to Tokyo and attended university. While in school he worked for its literary magazine. Throughout his career he worked as a journalist and published many novels. Some of his most well-known books are "Snow Country" "Thousand Cranes" and "Master of Go". During WWII he remained a peaceful pacifist and did not get involved in politics. In 1968 he was the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. On April 16, 1972 Kawabata died by poisoning himself with carbon dioxide. Many speculate as to what led him to this decision. He had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's and in 1970 his friend and fellow writer Kukio Mishima had taken his own life. Kawabata was 72 years old. He left behind a widow and daughter.
WELDON KEES was born on February 24, 1914 in Nebraska. During the 1930s the author was a librarian at the Denver public library. After moving to New York City many of his books of poems were published including "The Last Man". He also was recognized for many of his paintings. Kees was bipolar. In 1954, he separated from his wife, Ann, and had her institutionalized for alcoholism. By July of 1955 Kees' manic episodes seemed to be happening more often. Friends grew concerned as he seemed to be acting strangely. He seemed very depressed, even talking of jumping off a bridge. The last time anyone spoke to Kees was on July 18, 1955. His abandoned car was located on July 19, 1955 in San Francisco by the Golden Gate Bridge. His body was never found. He was 41 years old.
JACK KEROUAC was born Jean-Lous de Kerouac on March 12, 1922 in Massachusetts. As a child he had an older brother die which greatly impacted his life. Kerouac was a devout Catholic. After dropping out of Columbia University he joined the U.S. Navy, After serving 8 days of active duty he was sent to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. He was given an honorable discharge due to his "unstable personality". In 1944 Kerouac was arrested for helping a friend dispose of a body in the Hudson river. He was close friends with beat writers Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William S. Burroughs. "On the Road," was his most acclaimed novel. He raves about drinking in that book and did so in his real life. After "On the Road" was published he was brought up on obscenity charges for his descriptions in the book about drugs and homosexuality. In 1951, his pregnant wife divorced him and raised his only child, a daughter, by herself. In 1960's his only sister died from a heart attack, his mother had a stroke and his beloved travel and writing partner Neal Cassady died in Mexico in 1968. After that he slipped into a deep depression, censoring it with booze. He was diagnosed with cirrhosis. Within a year he'd be dead. The morning of his death he began to vomit blood and his liver began to bleed. Kerouac died on October 21, 1969. He, like so many other writers drank himself to death. He was 47 years old. He left behind his third wife and daughter. The original scroll of "On the Road" sold for $2.43 million dollars in 2009.
ARTHUR KOESTLER was born September 5, 1905 in Budapest, Hungary. He was an only child and raised in the Jewish faith. In 1922 Koestler attended Vienna Polytechnic University. However, his family fell on hard times and he was kicked out of school for unpaid fees. By 1927 he was working as a journalist covering the Middle East for a Berlin newspaper. In 1931 Koestler became impressed with Marxism and join the party. In 1937 while covering the Spanish Civil War he was arrested and sentenced to death however he was later considered worth "too much" and was exchanged for a Spanish prisoner. By 1938 he quit the communist party for he was disenchanted with Stalinism. Due to the rising discrimination towards Jews Koestler moved to England in 1940. Koestler was in France when Germany invaded, he fled, sneaking his way back into England without a permit. He was arrested and was still in jail when his most popular book "Darkness at Noon" was published in 1941. Koestler had began an affair with British sculptor Daphne Hardy and she translated the book from German to English for him. Once released from jail he joined the war effort where he did miscellaneous writing assignments. He also somehow had time to write his memoir "Scum of the Earth". After the war he lived in Wales, it was during this time he became friends with fellow writer George Orwell. Koestler's correspondence job always kept him on the move and in 1955 his girlfriend had his only child, a daughter whom he never developed a relationship with. Over the years the traveling for work began to become too much for him. In 1976 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's and in 1980 he was diagnosed with leukemia. On March 1, 1983 Arthur and his third wife Cynthia took an overdose of barbiturates with alcohol. He was 77 years old.
JERZY KOSINSKI was born Jozef Lewinkopf on June 14, 1933 in Poland. Supposedly, he survived WWII with the help of a priest who changed his name and forged a baptismal certificate. Kosinski claimed he was hid by many different countrymen and or was homeless most the war years. By 22 he had graduated from university with a degree in history and sociology. In 1957 he immigrated to America and eventually graduated from Columbia University. He also went on to teach at both Yale and Princeton. In 1962 he married a steel heiress named Mary Hayward Weir. She divorced him in 1966 and died from a brain tumor in 1968, leaving Kosinski nothing. He wrote about his marriage to her in his novel "Blind Date". He became a U.S. citizen in 1965. He won the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967. In 1969, Kosinski claims he was flying to Los Angeles from France with a stopover in New York. He missed his connection to Los Angeles which he believed saved his life because he had plans to stay at Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate's house. That very night Tate was murdered by the Charles Manson cult. Kosinski wrote the novel "Being There" which was made into a 1979 film starring Peter Seller, Shirley MacLaine and Melvyn Douglas, who won an Oscar for his role. Kosinski won the BAFTA award for the movie's screenplay and was nominated for a Golden Globe. During the 1980s Kosinski was accused multiple times of plagiarism and being a pathological liar. Those accusations and his failing health were believed to be the reasons that Kosinski overdosed on pills and alcohol on May 3, 1991. He was found with a plastic bag over his head and a suicide letter by his side. He was 57 years old. He left behind his second wife.
PRIMO LEVI was born on July 31, 1919 in Italy. He was a survivor of the holocaust and was best known for his book,"Survival in Auschwitz." Levi was arrested by the Nazis on December 13, 1943. On February 21, 1944 Levi was sent to to the concentration camp known as Auschwitz. Of the 650 Italian Jews in his group only 20 left the camp alive. Levi became a well-known chemist and author in Italy. However, he suffered from depression more and more throughout the years, never escaping the nightmares of the camps. Levi died on April 11, 1987 from an apparent jump from his apartment building. He was 67 years old. He left behind a wife and two children. Elie Wiesel said at the time that "Primo Levi died at Auschwitz forty years earlier."
VACHEL LINDSAY was born on November 10, 1879 in Springfield, Illinois. He was the only son out of six children. Three of his sisters died in infancy. His father was a doctor. His parents pressured him to attend medical school but he dropped out instead he enrolled in a New York art school to the dismay of his folks. Living up to the meaning of "Starving artist" he sold his poems on the streets of NY for bread. Lindsay walked hundreds of miles across the country selling his poems. From seeing all walks of life while traveling he became an advocate for anti-racism. His most famous poem that finally got published was called "The Congo". He often wrote to poet W.B. Yeats and they became friends. Harriet Monroe published Lindsay and fellow Illinois poet Carol Sandburg in her magazine called "Poetry". In 1915 Lindsay gave a poetry reading to President Woodrow Wilson. He once counted fellow poet Sara Teasdale but she married another man, only to kill herself later on. Lindsay married later in life and found having a wife and two children was a huge financial burden. This caused him to slip into a deep depression. He took to the road for six months doing poetry readings to support his family. When he returned he was both physically and emotionally burnt out. On December 5, 1931 he swallowed a bottle of lye and died. He was 52 years old.
ROSS LOCKRIDGE JR. was born on April 25, 1914 in Indiana. After college Lockridge suffered from rheumatic fever which effected his heart. This ailment kept him from being drafted into WWII. In the early 1940's Lockridge began to write his "great American novel". Lockridge became obsessed with it and continued to work on it for six years. Finally, in 1946 he brought the final product to the publisher. The book was over 600,000 words long. Lockridge would call the book "Raintree County" and its length and writing style was compared to James Joyce's "Ulysses". The publisher asked him to edit it down and cut 100,000 words. A task that was devastatingly stressful to the author. To add to Lockridge's stress MGM called and were interested in the movie rights but only if he cut out another 100,000. The Book of the Month Club wanted to select it for its book but asked that even more cuts be made. By the fall of 1947 Lockridge began to slip into a deep depression over the stress of ripping his masterpiece apart. The final cut of the book was finally published on January 4, 1948. That was his only book. On March 6, 1948 Lockridge committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. He left behind his wife and four children. He was 33 years old.
JACK LONDON was born on January 12,1876 in San Fransisco, California. He was born into poverty and was always in poor health. As a young man he was malnourished, suffered from scurvy, dysentery, had poor teeth and joint pains. As a young boy he was a hobo and a sailer but came back to California to attend high school and studied until he was accepted into Berkeley University. He started writing short stories around the time there was a "boom" for magazines. He is best remembered for his works, "The Call of the Wild," and "White Fang." London was an alcoholic and Atheist. Towards the end of his life he was suffering terribly from kidney failure and so it is believed that on November 22, 1916 London purposely took an overdose of morphine to stop the agony. He was 40 years old. He left behind his beloved second wife and two daughters. He and his wife are buried in what is now" The Jack London State Historic Park" in California. An old pub of his choice "Heinold's" still stands in Southern California.
MALCOLM LOWRY was born on July 28, 1909 in England. He said he started drinking at age fourteen because he was neglected by his mother. He would continue to drink heavily for the rest of his life. He attended Cambridge University. While living there his roommate committed suicide which haunted him for the rest of his life. In 1936 Lowry checked himself into Bellevue Hospital for a nervous breakdown. Lowry was known for his poetry and novels. His most famous body of work is the novel "Under the Volcano". He tried to enlist during WWII but was rejected due to his alcoholism. By 1955 Lowry was broke, depressed and acting erratic. Lowry died from a barbiturate and alcohol overdose on June 26, 1957. He was 47 years old. He left behind his second wife.
KLAUS MANN was born on November 18, 1906 in Munich, Germany. He was the son of renown writer Thomas Mann. Mann had a very difficult relationship with his father that was further stressed by his homosexuality. In 1915 Mann almost died from appendicitis. Mann worked as a drama critic for a Berlin newspaper. His first literary work was published in 1925. He was very close with his older sister Erika who traveled the world with him in 1927. To battle his inner demons Mann began to use opium. He tried multiple times to detox, once in Budapest and once in Switzerland. In 1933 he fled Germany for Paris to avoid Hilter's rule. In 1934 Klaus was stripped of his German citizenship but the Nazis. By 1936, he was living in New York and his drug use and sexual philandering was spiraling out of control. Mann is best remembered for his 1936 novel "Mephisto". In 1937 he began a relationship with film critic Thomas Quinn Curtiss. In 1939 he and Erika published a book called "Escape to Life". In 1943 Mann became a U.S. citizen. On July 11, 1948, Mann attempted suicide by slitting his wrists and ingesting pills. In 1949 he tried once more to get off drugs but failed. On May 21, 1949 Mann committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. He was 42 years old. He left behind his parents and five siblings. Thomas Mann did not attend his son's funeral.
VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY was born in Russian Empire on July 19, 1893. His brother, Konstantin died at the age of three. He spoke both Russian and Georgian. His father died from blood poisoning when stuck with a rusty nail in 1906, Vladimir was only thirteen years old. His mother then moved the family to Moscow. In school he studied Marxism and philosophy. He later joined the Bolsheviks and was arrested many times. It was during an 11-month prison term that he began writing verses and poems. After that, he tried to focus more on education and enrolled in the Moscow Art School and met Ukrainian artist David Burliuk. During the 1910's Vladimir performed his poetry on stages in bars throughout Russia. During WWI political activist Maxim Gorky asked him to come work at his journal called "Letopis". His most well known poems are "Backbone Flute" and "Cloud in Trousers". Throughout his career he met fellow writer Boris Pasternak and traveled abroad meeting Picasso and Fernand Leger. After Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union Mayakovsky's popularity began to drop. Many new readers and students began to relate his poetry to the works of the exile Trotsky. Upset by his lack of respect from the current Russian readers, Mayakovsky shot himself on April 14, 1930. He was 36 years old. How wrong he was, as 150,000 fellow Russians attended his funeral. It was the largest public mourning since Lenin.
GRACE METALIOUS was born on September 8, 1924 in the poor mill town of Manchester, New Hampshire. She was married to her husband George from 1943-1958. They remarried in 1960 and were separated when she died in 1964. She had three children. Her best-selling book "Peyton Place" was considered very ahead of its time and too seductive for the 1950s. It was rejected by many publishers. When finally bought by a smaller publishing house it immediately became a best seller and was turned into both a film and a TV series. She was known in her town for her heavy drinking and spending a lot of time in her favorite bars. She was an alcoholic and died from cirrhosis of the liver on February 25, 1964. She was only 39 years old.
CHARLOTTE MEW was born on November 15, 1869 in London, England. Her father was architect Frederick Mew, he nicknamed her "Lotti". Charlotte was out of seven children. Three siblings died in early childhood and two were mentally ill and were committed. Charlotte and her remaining sister Anne were very close and made a pact to never marry. Throughout the years many of her writings appeared in magazines and in 1916 her most famous book "The Farmer's Bride" was published. This work drew the attention of many famous writers at the time such as Thomas Hardy and Virginia Woolf. In 1927 Mew's sister Anne died. She slipped into a deep depression and on March 24, 1928 she killed herself by drinking disinfectant. She was 58 years old and left no relatives.
YUKIO MISHIMA was born on January 14, 1925 in Japan. He is considered one of the most influential Japanese writers of the 20th century. He was raised by his overbearingly strict grandmother. His childhood was spent mostly isolated from friends and family. He attended the elite school Gakushuin, in Tokyo. Emperor Hirohito attended his graduation. In 1941 at the age of 16 he wrote a short story called "Forest in Full Bloom" which shocked his teachers and was published in a magazine. Critics already calling him a genius. The story was published as a novella in 1944. Mishima was honored by this and thought it was something to remember him by, for he was certain he would die in WWII. On February 10, 1945 he was to be drafted but during his health examination a doctor had mistaken his cold for tuberculous and he was dismissed. On August 19, 1945, four days after the Japanese surrendered, his mentor Hasuda shot and killed himself. His younger sister died from typhus in October 1945 at the age of 17. Mishima's most popular book was called "Confessions of a Mask", published in 1949. This was a semi-autobiographical book about a homosexual who hides his true self behind a mask. Mishima's most highly regarded books were all published prior to 1960. Over time his writings began to focus more on politics. He was able to travel frequently for his work and in 1967 he met Indira Gandhi while visiting India. Mishima was deeply devout to the Japanese religion, Shinto. He was frustrated in the last years of his life for he felt Japan was becoming westernized and losing its traditions. Mishima created a private militia group called the "Tatenokai" which swore to protect the Emperor. On November 25, 1970 during a rally he committed Seppuku, which is suicide by Japanese sword. He was 45 years old. He left behind a wife and two children.
L.M. (Lucy Maud) MONTGOMERY was born on November 30, 1874 on Price Edward Island, Canada. She had the same birthday as Winston Churchill. After her mother died when she was 21 months old her father handed her over to her material grandparents. She grew up in Prince Edwards Island, Canada. She is most remembering for her "Anne of Green Gables" series. She had two suitors that died in the Spanish Influenza of 1918. She also got the flu but survived. She did not marry until she was 37 years old. Montgomery had a son that died at birth. It was not a happy marriage and was plagued with depression. She died in 1942 from an apparent drug overdose. She was 67 years old. Although, there was no proof, it is believed that she took her own life by taking pills due to the note that was left behind. In the note she speaks of suffering from spells and wrote "I hope everyone will forgive me even if they can not understand. My position is too awful to endure and nobody realizes it. What an end to a life which I tried always to do my best." In 2008 her granddaughter shared her belief that her grandmother had ended her own life.
JOHN O'BRIEN was born May 21, 1960 in Ohio. In 1990 his one and only complete novel "Leaving Las Vegas" was published. The book was about a man determined to drink himself to death. O'Brien was struggling with his career and depression. On April 10, 1994 O'Brien shot himself. His father said the novel was his suicide note. He was 33 years old. He left behind a wife. In 1995, the book was made into the Oscar winning movie by the same title.
CESARE PAVESE was born in Italy on September 9, 1908. His father died when he was six. He attended the University of Turin and majored in English-language literature and did his thesis on Walt Whitman. His mentor at college was writer Leone Ginzburg, who later was killed by the Nazis. In 1935 Pavese was exiled to southern Italy for being anti-fascist. To avoid further prosecution he fled to the Italian countryside. After WWII he joined the Italian Communist Party and worked for their newspaper. This is when most his work was published. "The Beautiful Summer" was published in 1949. In 1950 he had a brief love affair with American actress Constance Dowling. Pavese was heartbroken after the relationship ended and he overdosed on barbiturates on August 27, 1950. He was 41 years old.
SYLVIA PLATH was born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her father was 20 years older than her mother and died when Sylvia was 8 years old. Plath was a debilitating perfectionist. She had her first poem published at age eight. She was best known for her poetry and semi-autobiographical novel, "The Bell Jar". Plath had depression for most her adult life, multiple times she was treated with electric and insulin shock treatments. She knew fellow poet Anne Sexton from Boston. Plath was married to fellow poet Ted Hughes. They had a rocky marriage due to his numerous affairs. Plath had tried to commit suicide on multiple occasions but on the morning of February 11, 1963 she died from carbon monoxide poisoning by placing her head in the oven. She was 30 years old. She left behind her husband and two small children. She was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1982.
EDGAR ALLAN POE was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe's father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died the following year leaving him an orphan. He was raised by family members but was never officially adopted. He couldn't afford college although he longed to go. In 1827 he joined the army. It was there he began to write. He became a poet and short-story writer. His most famous pieces are "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Raven." Most his works were horror based tales. In 1831 Poe's older brother died from alcoholism. In 1835 Poe married his 13 year old cousin. In 1845 "The Raven" was published. Two years later his wife died from tuberculosis. This loss deepened his depression and increased his drinking. Like many before and after him Poe was an alcoholic. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore acting incoherent and confused. He was brought to a local hospital where he died on October 7, 1849. His death still remains a mystery. Some doctors believe his brain had swollen as a side effect of alcoholism. Some say he committed suicide. He was 40 years old.
DAVID OLIVER RELIN was born on December 12, 1962 in Rochester, New York. He graduated from Vassar college. He was a journalist and co-wrote the controversial book "Three Cups of Tea" about promoting education for women in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He suffered from depression. On November 14, 2012 he walked in front of an on coming train in Oregon and was killed instantly. He was 49 years old. He left behind a wife. His book "Second Suns" was published posthumously.
ANNE SEXTON was born on November 9, 1928 in Massachusetts. Both her parents were alcoholics and both died in 1959. She knew Sylvia Plath from college and wrote a poem after the author's suicide titled "Sylvia's Death". Sexton suffered from manic depression most her life. She had numerous affairs with both sexes during her marriage and acted very unstable towards her daughters. Sexton often quoted herself saying she was "possessed". She was an alcoholic and abused prescription drugs. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry "Live or Die." However, that success couldn't chase away her demons and on October 4, 1974 she put on her mother's fur coat and sat in her parked car in her garage and committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. She was 45 years old. She was divorced a year before her death and left behind two daughters. Fellow writer Maxine Kumin was believed to be the last person to see Anne alive. Sexton's older sister, Jane, committed suicide in 1983.
ANNE SEXTON was born on November 9, 1928 in Massachusetts. Both her parents were alcoholics and both died in 1959. She knew Sylvia Plath from college and wrote a poem after the author's suicide titled "Sylvia's Death". Sexton suffered from manic depression most her life. She had numerous affairs with both sexes during her marriage and acted very unstable towards her daughters. Sexton often quoted herself saying she was "possessed". She was an alcoholic and abused prescription drugs. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry "Live or Die." However, that success couldn't chase away her demons and on October 4, 1974 she put on her mother's fur coat and sat in her parked car in her garage and committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. She was 45 years old. She was divorced a year before her death and left behind two daughters. Fellow writer Maxine Kumin was believed to be the last person to see Anne alive. Sexton's older sister, Jane, committed suicide in 1983.
GEORGE STERLING was born on December 1, 1869 in Sag Harbor, New York. He was a prominent poet and playwright and known for being a creator of the Bohemianism movement at the turn of the 20th century. Sterling was the eldest of nine children. His father was a doctor and wished for his son to be a priest. Instead, Sterling followed his uncle out to San Fransisco in 1890. In 1896 he married a typist from his uncle's law office. Sterling published a volume of poetry in 1903 entitled "The Testimony of the Sun". He quickly became popular with the East Bay literary crowd and was admired by fellow writers such as Ambrose Bierce. In 1905 Sterling moved to a tiny town by the sea called Camel. In 1907 his published his most famous poem "A Wine of Wizardry." His popularity drew many people to his small village and it soon became a bohemian artist utopia attracting such artist as Upton Sinclair, James Hopper, Sinclair Lewis, and Jack London, whom would become one of Sterling's best friends. The media mogul, William Randolph Hearst mocked the bohemian community. He believed it was a debacle of sex, drugs and alcohol among artist. Perhaps he was correct. In 1907 the village got bad press and controversy when writer Nora May French killed herself with cyanide in Sterling's house. In 1913, due to numerous affairs Sterling's wife filed for divorce. The follow years the artist town was riddled with tragedies. In 1914 writer Ambrose Bierce disappeared and was assumed dead from suicide. Also in 1914, artist Helena Wood Smith was killed by her lover and buried in the sand on Camel beach. In 1916 Jack London died of a morphine overdose. In 1918 Sterling's ex-wife Carrie killed herself, also with cyanide. Throughout his life Sterling published 17 books of poems and plays, however after Carrie's death his drinking took control of his life and many times during his binges he landed in the hospital. On November 17, 1926 he himself overdosed on cyanide. He was 56 years old. Writer H.L. Mencken discovered his body.
SARA TEASDALE was born on August 8, 1884 in St. Louis, Missouri. Sara's parents had her later in life and were very overprotective of her. She was a very sickly child and her mother isolated her. This behavior may have been the reason that Sara suffered from hypochondria as an adult. Her first poem was published in 1907. She was a member of a small poetry magazine in St, Louis called "The Potter's Wheel". Teasdale was asked for hand in marriage by fellow poet Vachel Lindsay but she declined due to his financial situation. Despite his disappointment they remained friends. She longed to marry fellow writer John Hall Wheelock but he was not the settling type so instead she married Ernst Filsinger on December 19, 1914 and lived with him in New York City. Her brother John, died in 1917 at the age of 47. She won the 1918 Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection "Love Songs". After WWI she lost her faith in God. Both her parents died in the 1920s and this caused a nervous breakdown that left a deep depression she struggled with till her death. In 1929 she asked her husband for a divorce. They had no children. By 1930 a lot of her poetry seemed to revolve around death. It was clearly on her mind for that same year she wrote her Last Will and Testament. Teasdale had another breakdown when her friend and fellow writer Vachel Lindsey committed suicide in 1931. On January 29, 1933 Teasdale swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills and was found face down in her tub by her housekeeper. She was 48 years old.
DYLAN THOMAS was born on October 27, 1914 in Wales. He was a world famous poet. He's most well known for his poem entitled, "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "A Child's Christmas in Wales" Dylan started drinking at a young age and by adulthood he was an alcoholic. Due to his dependency on the drink and his weak lungs he was not able to defend his country during WWII. His marriage was quite stormy due to his alcoholism and infidelities. Dylan did many broadcasts for the BBC throughout his life. During the 1950's Thomas' health began to quickly decline, bringing on more lung issues, gout, and episodes of blackouts. While touring in New York Thomas became deathly ill and slipped into a coma. On November 9, 1953, he succumbed to the end stages of alcohol abuse and pneumonia. He was 39 years old. He left behind his wife and three children. His family had his body sent from NYC back to his native home of Wales.
HUNTER S. THOMPSON was born on July 18, 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky. Hunter's father died when he was 14, After that he dropped out of high school and joined the military; his mother became an alcoholic. After his service he became a world traveling journalist, writing frequently for "Rolling Stone" and "Playboy". He was quite an unusual writer. He was known for his heavy drinking and extreme drug use. He recounts his wild lifestyle in his books "The Rum Diary," and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." His first wife gave birth to three babies but only one son survived infancy. Thompson lived from job to job and spent most his paychecks on booze. In later years Thompson was bored and depressed over his failing health. He wrote a suicide letter explaining how he had stuck around long enough. On February 20, 2005 while sitting at his type writer Hunter shot himself. Committing suicide was the way he always planned to die. On August 20, 2005 Hunter got his final wish and had his ashes blown out of a cannon. He was 67 years old. He was survived by his wife, son and grandson.
ERNST TOLLER was born on December 1, 1893 in Germany. He was raised in the Jewish faith by his mother and father, who ran a general store. At the start of WWI he enlisted and fought on the Western front for 13 months, after which he had a nervous breakdown. His 1919 book called "Transformation" was based on his months in the war. Around this time Toller join a rebellion party which did not sit well with the current leaders in Germany. He was arrested and was sentenced to five years in prison. During this time he wrote many plays. His most famous play was "Hoppla, We're Alive!" This play premiered in Berlin shortly after his prison release in 1925. He was friends with fellow writers Max Weber, Thomas Mann, Rilke, and Robert Payne. In 1933 Toller was exiled from Germany once the Nazis came into power. He traveled Canada and the United States, living in California briefly while working on Scripts for M.G.M. He eventually settled in New York, where his last play "Peace No More" was performed. By 1939 Toller was separated from his wife, depressed over the possibility of a WWII, and financially broke. On May 22, 1939 Toller hung himself in the Mayflower hotel in New York City. He was 45 years old.
JOHN KENNEDY TOOLE was born on December 17, 1937 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His mother was 37 years old when he was born, for she was told she could never conceive a child. His mother was a very dominant figure in his life, sometimes being too overbearing. Toole graduated from Tulane University. In 1960, he moved to New York to get a Ph.D. from Columbia University. While attending Columbia he taught at Hunter College. At 22, he became the youngest professor in the school's history. In 1961, he was drafted into the U.S. army where he taught English to Spanish recruits. While in the army he wrote his book "A Confederacy of Dunces." For years, Toole had sent out his book to numerous publishers who dismissed the book as "comical nonsense" or asked him to completely rewrite it. Toole did not handle this rejection well. He returned to teaching, this time at Dominican College in his home town of New Orleans. For years he was voted favorite teacher but Toole was depressed about never getting published. In the last year of his life he was seen on campus acting strange and looked unkempt. In the fall of 1968 Toole was asked to take a leave of absence from his teaching job. January 19, 1969 was the last time his mother saw him. He eventually won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for the book, however, it was awarded posthumously, for John had already killed himself in his car in Mississippi on March 26, 1969. He died believing no one would ever publish his book. For years his mother insisted it be published and in 1980 through the help of writer Walker Percy it was. To date it has sold over a million copies. John was 31 years old at the time of his death. He was single and had no children.
GEORG TRAKL was born in Austria on February 3, 1887. He was out of six children. His mother had manic-depression and seemed to barely care for the children, leaving them to run amok. His sister was Austrian pianist Grete Trakl. Georg started to experiment with drugs at an early age. He attempted suicide many times throughout his life. By his early teens he quit school and worked for a pharmacist. This gave him access to various drugs. In 1908, he went to Vienna to get his pharmacist license. There he met many artist and writers. He tried his hand at writing with limited success. Trakl then went to work in a pharmacy of a military hospital. In 1912, he became friends with Ludwig von Ficker who published some of Trakl's poems in his magazine. By 1914 WWI began in Austria and Trakl was called to serve as a medical corps lieutenant. However, he was overwhelmed by the death and lack of meds he could provide for critically injured soldiers. He had a nervous breakdown and threatened to kill himself. He was sent to a hospital in Cracow and was diagnosed as schizophrenic. Ludwig von Ficker came to visit him in the hospital. On November 3, 1914, shortly after his friend's visit Trakl overdosed on cocaine. He was 27 years old. The last poem he wrote was titled "Grodek". Two years later, his beloved sister Grete shot herself. Clearly, a family riddled with mental illness.
NED VIZZINI was born Edison Vizzini on April 4, 1981 in New York City. He attended Hunter College in Manhattan. He was known for his semi-autographical novel called "It's Kind of a Funny Story." The book was made into an independent film in 2010. It was about his time spent in a mental hospital during his adolescence. Vizzini suffered from depression throughout his adult life. On December 19, 2013, he jumped off the roof of his parent's apartment building in NYC. He was 32. He left behind a wife and son.
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE was born on February 21, 1962 in Ithaca, New York. He had his first novel published in 1987 however it was his second novel, "Infinite Jest," that gave him real fame in 1996. He based a lot of his work on the subject of irony. He had a very unstable relationship with fellow writer Mary Karr. Unfortunately, he suffered from depression, drug, and alcohol issues for most his life. He attempted suicide many times and was institutionalized on many occasions. He was put on antidepressants which helped him be productive and finish his book. He married in 2004, however the depression always lingered. In 2007 he stopped taking his medication which led to his down fall. He sought out other medical solutions for his illness including electric shock therapy. Nothing eased his pain which left him hopeless and eventually led to his suicide on September 12, 2008. His wife discovered him hanging in their garage after she returned from work. He was 46. His unfinished book "A Pale King" was posthumously published in 2011.
VIRGINIA WOOLF was born on January 25, 1882 in London, England. She was best known for her novels "Mrs. Dalloway", "A Room of One's Own", and "To the Lighthouse". Woolf was one of eight children in her household. Her sister was painter, Vanessa Bell. Woolf's early life was no stranger to death. She was thirteen years old when her 49 year old mother died of heart failure from influenza in 1895. She was fifteen years old when her 28 year old half-sister, Stella died. Woolf's father was said to have quite a temper and suffered from depression. She was 22 years old when he died in 1904. Two years later, her 26 year old brother Julian, died of thyroid. Woolf was friends with T.S. Eliot. She and fellow writers like E.M. Forster were part of a group called the "Bloomsbury Group". This is where Virginia met her publisher husband, Leonard Woolf, whom she married in 1912. Woolf suffered from bi-polar disorder and possibly even schizophrenia. She was constantly nervous and paranoid. Her disease caused manic episodes which is when she completed most her works, but also caused her to be reckless and have affairs with female friends. Throughout her adult life she was incredibly unstable, she attempted suicide multiple times and suffered many breakdowns. This caused strain on her marriage but Leonard was always loyal and stood by her side. By 1940, Woolf's nerves were at their worst and the depression was taking hold. The war was closing in and her London home was destroyed in the Blitz. On March 28, 1941 she left her husband a thankful and apologetic suicide note and then walked into a river and drowned herself. Her body was not discovered for more than three weeks. She was 59 years old. She left behind her beloved husband. They had no children. Her last book "Between the Acts" was posthumously published in 1941.
CONSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON was born on March 5, 1840 in New Hampshire. She was the grandniece of renown American writer James Fenimore Cooper. Woolson was out of nine children. She had three sisters die from scarlet fever the year she was born. Only Constance and two sisters lived past 30 years old. Woolson was schooled in a New York boarding school. Some of her poems and short stories were published in "Harper's Magazine". The family was financially stabled and Woolson was able to travel the globe for inspiration for her writings. Throughout her life she suffered from depression, a disease she said her family was "cursed" with. She was also deaf in one ear from a childhood illness . This disability embarrassed her greatly which led her to live a semi isolated lifestyle. She never married or had children. On January 24, 1894 while in Venice, Italy she jumped from her hotel window. She was 51 years old. She was close friends with writer Henry James, who was devastated when he received word of her death.
SERGEI YESENIN was born on October 3, 1895 in Russia. He is one of the most renown 20th century Russian poets. As a child Yesenin's parents fell on difficult times and he was raised by his maternal grandparents. Throughout school he wrote poetry and in 1912 he graduated with a teacher's diploma. He moved to Moscow in hopes to get his works published but he could only find a job as proofreader's assistant. By 1915 Yesenin was frustrated about only having one poem published in a magazine and tried his luck in St. Petersburg. There he met fellow poets Alexander Blok, Andrei Bely, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Nikolay Gumilyov, all whose lives ended tragically. These writers helped him finally get his first book of poems published. From 1917 till 1921 he was married to his second wife, Russian actress, Zinaida Reich. They had two children. In 1939 Reich was murdered in her home by Stalin henchmen. Yesenin's children were not home at the time. In 1920 his popular book "I am the Last Poet of the Village" was published. In the fall of 1921 Yesenin met the American dancer, Isadora Duncan. Duncan spoke almost no Russian and was 18 years older than him, still they fell madly in love and married on May 2, 1922. He traveled along with his wife as she performed in Europe and America. As quick as the love affair had started it also ended and by 1923 the marriage was over. After returning from America Yesenin began heavily drinking and seemed discontent with his life. He published "Land of Scoundrels" in 1923. From 1921-1924 many of his fellow writers such as Gumilyov and Ganin were executed by the Russian police. Yesenin was depressed, at a last ditch effort to find true love and happiness he married a granddaughter of Tolstoy in 1925. On December 28, 1925 Yesenin hung himself in his Leningrad hotel room. His last poem "Goodbye, Friend, Goodbye" was written in blood next to him. He was 30 years old. His lineage held quite healthy genes and the rest of his family led long lives, rare for the times. He left behind his fourth wife, four children, two younger sisters, and both parents.
STEFAN ZWEIG was born on November 28, 1881 in Vienna, Austria. His family was extremely wealthy from the textile trade and because Stefan was not the first born heir his father encouraged him to follow his dreams of becoming a writer. Zweig was fluent in many languages. He earned his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Vienna. Zweig was a pacifist. Due to his wealth Zweig steadily published his novels and short stories from 1900 until his death in 1942. One of his most famous books is "Amok" and his biography on Marie Antionette. Zweig was from Jewish ancestry and in 1934 as Hitler rose to power in Germany he feared for his life and fled to England. There he married his second wife "Lotte" Altmann. In 1940 a "black book" was produced by the Germans with a list of prominent people living in England who should be seized during the proposed invasion of England. Zweig's name and address was listed on page 231. He and his wife swiftly fled to America, temporarily staying as guests at Yale University. They then fled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Zweigs, feeling depressed about the hate rising in Europe and their loss of hope in mankind took an overdose of barbiturates together on February 23, 1942. They were found laying together and holding hands. Zweig was 60 years old. They had no children. Many of Zweig's remaining manuscripts were published posthumously including his own autobiography "The World of Yesterday", a novel "The Post Office Girl" and a biography of Balzac.
The information for this blog were found on many websites but mostly Wikipedia.com, also much thanks from the books "Final Drafts" by Mark Seinfelt and "Famous Last Words" by Ray Robinson.
