Sarah E. Moffett

Diane Mapes of CNN wrote an interesting article entitled Real Life Plot Twists of Famous Authors. I’ve included my favorite five. Enjoy bibliophiles.

1. Thomas Hardy

When British poet and novelist Thomas Hardy died on January 11, 1928, his literary contemporaries decided he was too important to be buried in his hometown’s simple churchyard.

But the good people of Dorset, where Hardy had spent nearly all of his 88 years, vehemently disagreed. So the two groups reached a grisly compromise.

The author’s body was cremated, and his ashes were interred in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey. Hardy’s heart, on the other hand, was placed inside a small casket and buried beside the grave of his first wife in a Dorset churchyard.

To this day, a rumor persists that the author’s heart was accidentally devoured by his housekeeper’s cat, and that the heart of a pig was buried in its place.

2. Horatio Alger, Jr.

Apparently, the author of more than 120 “rags-to-riches” books featuring hard-working, highly moral young heroes was also an admitted pederast.

Before finding success as an author, Alger was a minister at a Unitarian Church in Brewster, Massachusetts, where he was accused of sexually assaulting two young boys. Alger admitted his guilt, but left town before the news hit the street.

Later, he wound up in New York City, where he penned hundreds of best-selling books for and about young boys, which went on to grace the shelves of homes, schools and church libraries across America.

3. O. Henry

O. Henry (born William Sydney Porter) may have been the master of the popular short story form, but he was far less skilled when it came to money. While working as a bank teller in Houston, the fledgling author was accused of embezzling a few thousand dollars, prompting his rather sudden move to Honduras.

But a few years later, when he came back to visit his dying wife, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. It was here that convict Porter assumed the pen name O. Henry. His incarceration offered him the time to write as well as a chance to mix with a slew of seedy characters, perfect fodder for his fiction.

A model inmate, Porter was released in 1901, after serving just three years. He passed away in 1910 with 600 stories, but reportedly only 33 cents, to his name.

4. Langston Hughes

Poet, playwright, novelist, essayist and all-around literary luminary, Langston Hughes achieved fame during the Harlem Renaissance. But before that, Hughes was a struggling young writer, working menial jobs to support his burgeoning poetry habit.

In 1925, while working at a restaurant in Washington D.C., Hughes tucked a few of his poems under the dinner plate of then-reigning poet Vachel Lindsay. Lindsay shared the poems during his reading that night, and in the morning, Hughes was crowned Lindsay’s new discovery, the “busboy poet.”

Hughes went on to become one of America’s most prolific authors. Lindsay, however, died six years later after drinking a bottle of Lysol.

5. Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte may have been the author of the romantic classic Jane Eyre, but she was not well served by love herself. In fact, it more or less killed her.

In June of 1854, a starry-eyed Bronte married her father’s curate and soon became pregnant. During her pregnancy, she fell ill, and according to her earliest biographer, Elizabeth Gaskell, she was attacked by “sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness.”

The elder Bronte sister’s nausea was so overwhelming, in fact, that the author couldn’t eat or even smell food without becoming violently ill. On March 31, 1855, a dehydrated, malnourished and severely exhausted Charlotte Bronte died at the age of 38.

Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved.

[Sarah Moffett is on hiatus.  From life.  Comments and such will be moderated upon return, provided she does not get “lost” in Western Europe.]

Share This