MetaChat - Unusual Deaths in the Literary World

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29 October 2005

Unusual Deaths in the Literary World

post by: iconomy at: 13:07 | 20 comments

These tales make suicide seem more and more rational. Thanks!

posted by puke & cry 29 October | 13:22

"Shot with a .22 rifle by an insane dishwasher." really demands more of a story.

Avram Davidson has an interesting short story riff on Shelley's death called "Traveller from an Antique Land" (available in this collection)

posted by selfnoise 29 October | 13:22

Maxwell Bodenheim [1893-1954] American Author - Shot with a .22 rifle by an insane dishwasher.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: do NOT fuck with the boys in the back.

on preview: *shakes fist at selfnoise*

posted by Frisbee Girl 29 October | 13:25

I'm glad they mentioned Seth Morgan. I bought his novel Homeboy(highly recommended) and enjoyed it without knowing much about him beyond him being an ex-con. Later I heard he had died in a motorcycle accident, but didn't know the details of his bizarre and sordid life.

posted by jonmc 29 October | 13:27

These are really interesting. I always thought Poe died of alcohol poisoning, apparently there's more to the story.

posted by amro 29 October | 13:34

That was kinda depressing. Interesting but..

posted by peacay 29 October | 13:52

* Honore De Balzac [1799-1850] French Author - Believed to have choked on too much coffee.

As opposed to choking on just enough coffee?

posted by Eideteker 29 October | 14:11

Lesson learned: writers are fucked up.

posted by WolfDaddy 29 October | 14:14

Missed this one the first time:

* Yukio Mishima [1925-1970] Japanese Author - Committed seppuku (hara-kiri) and was beheaded during failed attempt to overtake a Japanese garrison. [emphasis mine]

Wow, that's hardcore. "Now take him to be tortured!"

Thanks for clearing the Bodenheim story up, guys. I plan to be assassinated by a rogue washing machine.

posted by Eideteker 29 October | 14:20

in honor of the Maytag repairman?

posted by jonmc 29 October | 14:24

John Berryman [1914-1972] American Poet - Jumped from a bridge over the Mississippi River; reputedly waved at passersby on way down.

Suicide with humor? You don't see a whole lot of that.

posted by taz 29 October | 14:36

Eideteker: beheading via second is part of that particular variant of ritual suicide. Mishima had to have two seconds, since the first didn't get the job done.

posted by selfnoise 29 October | 14:51

By the way, William Shakespeare was found dead in his home. He was 52 years old. No other details were given.

posted by Smart Dalek 29 October | 15:02

* Sergei Esenin [1895-1925] Russian Poet - Cut wrists, wrote a final poem in own blood (called "Do svidania drug moi" or "Goodbye my friend") and hanged self in a hotel room in Leningrad.

And again: Cut's wrists, writes final farewell poem, and hangs himself. Damn.

posted by safetyfork 29 October | 15:28

As opposed to choking on just enough coffee?

Actually, for some reason I always remembered this weird little fact: Balzac was an insanely prodigious coffee drinker, something like 60 or 70 cups a day. He even wrote an essay called "The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee"; here's an excerpt:

Coffee is a great power in my life; I have observed its effects on an epic scale. Coffee roasts your insides. Many people claim coffee inspires them, but, as everybody knows, coffee only makes boring people even more boring.

Also:

Some friends, with whom I had gone out to the country, witnessed me arguing about everything, haranguing with monumental bad faith....We found the problem soon enough: coffee wanted its victim.

...and got him, I guess.

posted by melissa may 29 October | 20:49

Here's a direct link to the Balzac essay, as well.

posted by melissa may 29 October | 20:53

Thanks for that, meliisa may! I've read biogs about him 2 or 3 times. He would do just about anything to get money to support his coffee habit during the lean years. The love affair that he had with coffee was better than any he had with women or any of his stories. His was one of the best biogs I've ever read - he led a pretty interesting life.

posted by iconomy 29 October | 21:33

And if you wanna know where your heroes, literary and otherwise, are buried - Find a Grave is a nice reference site.

posted by deborah 29 October | 21:43

I'm surprised that Margaret Mitchell wasn't listed. She was hit by a speeding taxi when crossing Peachtree St. at 13th Street in Atlanta.

posted by raysmj 29 October | 23:08

Sherwood Anderson [1876-1941] American Author - Complications of peritonitis in Colon, Panama, after ingesting a toothpick along with a hors d’oeuvre at a cocktail party.

You have to be really wolfing it down not to notice a whole frickin' toothpick.

posted by Specklet 31 October | 12:52

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