Authors who succeeded after Death

[Paul Whybrow]

Just as cynics say "Great career move" when a fading musician dies unexpectedly, leading to a massive boost in the sales of their albums, so it takes having The Grim Reaper as your literary agent for some writers to get anywhere.

I've mentioned the sad tale of John Kennedy Toole in previous threads, and it would have been fascinating to know what else he would have created. At least he hasn't been turned into a franchise operation with hired gun authors brought in to continue the series, as happened recently with Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander and the long-established James Bond and Sherlock Holmes stories.

https://litreactor.com/columns/11-authors-who-became-famous-after-they-died

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I was just reading about how H.P. Lovecraft died poor and unknown, and it wasn't until years later that his stories were regarded as the first true horror stories.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Keats, dying and broken hearted. 'Here lies one whose words were writ on water'.

There are those determined to make it, who very likely will, and that is the perspective of their approach. Same with musicians and all types of artist. There are those who serve the Muse and take their chances.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

Is there a co-relation between the posthumous sales and how gruesome their demise was?

 

[Bernard Stacey]

Keats, dying and broken hearted. 'Here lies one whose words were writ on water'.

There are those determined to make it, who very likely will, and that is the perspective of their approach. Same with musicians and all types of artist. There are those who serve the Muse and take their chances.

Like Paul Gauguin: died in poverty and ill health, and only achieved his fame long afterwards, but he too had a single minded sense of purpose that led him to relinquish everything in pursuit of his dream.
It's not for everyone.

 

[KG Christopher]

I'm thinking of Cloud Atlas - David Mitchel, he describes the story of Timothy Cavendish, who is a publishing agent, who has a client who murders someone (cos he got a bad review) and the client's books shoot through the roof. I love Cloud Atlas

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Hey! There's hope still for all of us! (I just keep thinking of the Monty Python skit..."I'm not dead yet!" "Yes you are."...)

 

[Jason Byrne]

I was just reading about how H.P. Lovecraft died poor and unknown, and it wasn't until years later that his stories were regarded as the first true horror stories.

Well, the first Weird Fiction. Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were a bit ahead of him. But you're absolutely right — horror was essentially ghost stories, before him. And the only people who would read his stuff when he was alive were a group of friends he wrote to, shared work, and chatted about the woes of writing with, such as Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, and August Derleth.

Sound familiar?

I'm not a fan of putting people on pedestals, but if I were to idolize anyone, ol' Howard Phillips would be one of them.

 

[Roy Donovan]

*cough *cough
In the immortal words of Spike 'See, I told you I was ill'