5. Karin Boye (1900 – 1941)
Known for her compelling, serious writing style that was often symbolic, bleak, and tragic, Swedish poet and novelist Karin Boye was responsible for co-founding the magazine Spektrum, translating T. S. Eliot, and working to introduce surrealism to Swedish readers. Born in Gothenburg, Boye moved to Stockholm in 1909 and spent her early years there, later studying at the University of Uppsala and the University of Stockholm.
Boye published her first collection of poems (Clouds) in 1922, and continued writing poetry and novels throughout her life. Much opposed to totalitarian government, Boye wrote the novel Kallocain, which contained ideas culled from her thoughts while traveling through Germany and the Soviet Union, and which helped inspire the 2002 film Equilibrium.
Although she was briefly married to Leif Bjork, a friend from the Socialist Clarté organization, Boye was a lesbian and lived with her partner Margot Hanel for the last ten years of her life. Her depression eventually led to her suicide in April of 1941. After leaving home one day, she was found dead, lying next to a boulder on top of a hill. She had killed herself with an overdose of sleeping medication.
4. Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892 – 1927)
Born in Tokyo to a mother who later went insane, Ryunosuke (“Dragon Son”) Akutagawa showed an early interest in reading and writing, eventually going on to study English Literature at Tokyo Imperial University.
Known as the father of the Japanese short story, Akutagawa’s writings often focused on psychological disorders, the macabre, and the evils of human nature, frequently reinterpreting historical themes in a modern light.
Akutagawa taught English briefly at the Naval Engineering School in Yokosuka, but eventually quit and devoted himself completely to writing. Of the 150 short stories he wrote in his short life, most of these were composed during the last ten years he lived. Paranoid, severely depressed, and suffering from visual hallucinations (such as perceiving maggots in his food), Akutagawa killed himself with an overdose of Veronal at the age of 35.
“The world I am now in is one of diseased nerves, lucid as ice,” read part of his suicide note. “Such voluntary death must give us peace, if not happiness…”
3. Anne Sexton (1928 – 1974)
The poetry of Anne Sexton is known for being extremely personal and honest; indeed, she is considered one of the modern confessional poets. Much of her writing deals with themes that were usually left alone by other authors – themes like abortion, menstruation, and masturbation. The manic depression that stayed with Sexton for most of her life also factored heavily into her poetic work.
In 1956, Sexton’s therapist recommended that she take up poetry as an outlet for her severe depression. So she did – and it wasn’t long before she saw her poems accepted in major publications, even receiving the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967.
But despair was always a constant factor. Even as she gained exposure for her poems, the effects of her medications, combined with an increasing alcohol dependency, were slowly putting a damper on her creative fires. She repeatedly made attempts on her own life, and finally she succeeded.
On October 4, 1974, right after meeting with a close friend to discuss her latest book of poetry (The Awful Rowing Toward God), Sexton went home, locked herself in the garage with the car running, and succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.
2. Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941)
“I feel certain that I am going mad again… and I can’t recover this time” – so read the suicide note Virginia Woolf left for Leonard, her husband of almost thirty years.
Born in London and raised there by eminent parents, Woolf had to deal with depression throughout her life. The death of her mother in 1895 resulted in her first nervous breakdown, and when her father passed away in 1904 she suffered a collapse so severe that she had to be institutionalized for a short time.
However, Woolf’s mental illness did not prevent her from becoming a successful novelist, essayist, and publisher, and it was through her association with the circle of intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group that she met her husband, with whom she enjoyed a long and fulfilling marriage. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928).
Shortly after Woolf finished the manuscript for her novel Between the Acts, she once again slipped into a state of severe depression. Afflicted by voices in her head and an ever-increasing despair, Woolf wrote a final note to Leonard, asserting that her disease was beyond healing, yet also telling him how happy her marriage to him had been. On March 28, she slipped on an overcoat weighed down with rocks and drowned herself in the River Ouse. Her body wasn’t found for three weeks.
1. Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961)
Born and raised in Oak Park, IL, Ernest Hemingway’s literary talents go all the way back to his teenage years, when he worked as a writer and editor for his high school’s newspaper and yearbook. Post-graduation work as a cub reporter at The Kansas City Star was cut short by his decision to serve as a Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy during World War I, and after he returned to the United States he eventually moved to Toronto and gained employment at the Toronto Star Weekly, where he worked as a freelancer, staff writer, and foreign correspondent.
Hemingway is best known for writing several novels which are now considered classics of American literature, such as For Whom The Bell Tolls (1940) and The Old Man And The Sea (1952). His writing ventures gave him many opportunities to travel, and the things he experienced in such places as France, Spain, Cuba, and Key West became themes for his novels. His contributions to literature won him both the Pulitzer Prize (1953) and the Nobel Prize (1954).
Hemingway’s love of the bottle developed into alcoholism later in life, leading to high blood pressure and liver problems. Shortly after receiving ECT at Mayo Clinic in 1961, he attempted suicide at his home in Sun Valley. Ten more shock treatments followed, and two days after being released from Mayo Clinic the second time, Hemingway loaded both barrels of his twelve-gauge shotgun, put the weapon in his mouth, and blew his brains out the back of his head.
Four other members of Hemingway’s immediate family also committed suicide – his father, two of his siblings, and his granddaughter – leading some to the conclusion that a hereditary disease was at work behind the scenes.
source
0 comments:
Post a Comment