Fame After Death...

Yesterday, as I was reading Chad Harback's novel, The Art of Fielding, there was a passage about the American author, Herman Melville and how by the end of his life, he basically had become unknown, despite his early fame with his book, Typee. As an English major, I should probably know facts like that but I have never been all that interested in the personal lives of famous people. I'm far more interested in their works (literature, art, movies, etc.), than I am about who they slept with or how they lived. But I do think it interesting that there are people who are hugely famous today, who were virtual unknowns during their life. I decided to focus this list on those that had very little acclaim during their life, instead of those who had a modicum of fame but then died an obscure and/or penniless death (i.e., Edgar Allan Poe).

Here is the list that I compiled:

Vincent Van Gogh

Born on March 30, 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands, Vincent van Gogh today stands as one of the most prolific and widely celebrated post-impressionist painters (and one of my personal favorites). He was a shy child with low self-esteem who at first did missionary work in order to become a priest, but later turned to drawing and painting, becoming a full-time artist during his 20s. While his paintings reflected the southern sun in France and often contained bright colors, his life was the complete opposite. He suffered from epilepsy and depression. Though mentally unstable, which ultimately lead to his suicide in 1890 (age 37), van Gogh’s work is seen as some of the most influential and praised art ever created. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches, and prints, which were only recognized for their brilliance after Vincent's demise. 

Though having been a painter for decades, van Gogh sold very few painting in his life and was supported both emotionally and financially by his brother, Theo. Despite the fact he had painted large numbers of artwork, his work only began to become popular around the late 1890s. His work started to spread from France and Belgium into Germany and the Netherlands with the help of his Theo’s wife (Theo died 6 months after Vincent). Today, van Gogh’s work is worth millions of dollars. His painting, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, sold for $82.5 million in 1990 and is valued at $151 million today.

Franz Kafka

Born on July 3, 1883 in Prague, Franz Kafka was part of a middle-class Jewish family. He was the eldest of six children and was put under pressure to help his family by his father. After attending the German Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, where he trained as a lawyer, Kafka began writing short stories in his spare time. Though he found quality jobs, he quit them often due to conflicts with the time. Kafka wanted more time to himself in order to write, and moved to Berlin in 1921 in order to concentrate on his writing.  In 1924 at the age of 40, he died from starvation, which was a result of the laryngeal tuberculosis Kafka contracted in 1917: the condition of Kafka's throat made eating too painful for him.

While alive, Kafka only published a few manuscripts. His writing didn’t get much attention until after he died, when many began to discover his unique style of writing. His writing is highly existential and modern, and often reflects his own life in a dry, humorous way. Before dying, Kafka never really finished his works and burned nearly 90 percent of his writing while living in Berlin. Kafka's most famous work, the novella "The Metamorphosis", stands as one work that had been completed. Despite Kafka's dying wish to his friend and literary executor, Max Brod to destroy all his writing, Brod ignored the request, saving Kafka's writings to be published posthumously by Brod.

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson’s poetry is some of the best poetry ever produced. She has become widely acknowledged as an innovative, pre-modernist poet. Born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, MA, Dickinson lived the life of a recluse, due to the fact that she was extremely shy and introverted. She was seen as eccentric in her Massachusetts town, which made her even more isolated from the town commoners. Many believe a love affair she had sparked some sort of psychotic episode, which then focused her writing style on being highly personal and related to her own life events. Emily died in her family home in 1886 from Bright’s disease (age 55).

Before she died, only seven of Emily Dickinson’s poems were published publicly. The poems that were published were highly edited so that they fit the proper rules of poetry at the time. It is speculated she wrote over 1800 poems, most of which she wanted to keep hidden and away from the public eye. She was known for writing about immortality and death, but her other themes, including nature, also came to light when her poems were published. Despite her desire to keep her poetry as her own and wishing for her sister to burn them after her death, Lavinia and two friends edited and then published her work (sound familiar?). Dickinson is taught in literature and poetry classes from middle school to college. An 8-cent commemorative stamp in honor of Dickinson was issued by the United States Postal Service on August 28, 1971.

Galileo Galilei

The Father of Modern Science (born February 15, 1564 in Pisa, Italy) was a scientist, mathematician, and astronomer who contributed valuable information and astrological tools to the scientific world. Galileo created a telescope that allowed him to look at the planets, including Jupiter and Saturn, in which he was able to discover the moons orbiting these planets. Though he didn’t discover the theory himself, he proved that Copernicus was correct in his heliocentric theory of our solar system. He was also one of the first to discover sunspots, moon craters, and even lunar mountains. While his discoveries and theories were correct, he was often criticized by those heavily involved in religion, which was a way of life during his time, as they believed that the world was geocentric and was in one fixated place and did not move to revolve around the sun. The Roman Inquisition tried Galileo in 1633 and found him "gravely suspect of heresy", sentencing him to indefinite imprisonment. Galileo was kept under house arrest until his death in 1642 at age 77.

While Galileo did make himself known, his theories were hardly accepted during his lifetime. During his lifetime, there was still a strong focus on incorrect religious beliefs. People didn’t want to think outside of the Bible, and therefore anything that contradicted what the Bible claimed was ultimately thrown out and entirely disregarded. However; today, Galileo stands as the father of modern physics and his work is highly praised. Even though he didn’t know it, Galileo was studying and experimenting with scientific ideas that today are considered highly important parts of the scientific world, including kinematics and strength of materials.

Henry David Thoreau

Best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Resistance to Civil Government" (also known as "Civil Disobedience"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state, Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, MA. A graduate of Harvard College, Thoreau was one of a kind, especially when it came to his writing, creating stanzas filled with symbolism and hidden meanings. In 1849, he could not find a publisher for his book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, written as an elegy to his brother, John, and instead printed 1,000 copies at his own expense (though fewer than 300 were sold). After studying and teaching, Thoreau wanted to do natural experimentation. To experience simple living, Thoreau built and moved into a small shack on land owned by his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1845. Here he claimed to become one with the earth. He died after a long illness on May 6, 1862 at the age of 44.

By the time of his death, Thoreau had only published two books (Walden and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers), which were seen as obscure and weird by many, though he did have a few admirers, most notably his buddy, Emerson. Before he died, Thoreau had boasted of his library, filled with about 900 books, but seemed to ignore the fact that 700 of them were his own. Not until the late 1920s did Thoreau get the praise he deserved. Today, Thoreau is regarded as one of the most important American writers, both for the clarity of his style and for his views on nature and politics. His literature has inspired many leaders, such as Mohandas Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Leo Tolstoy. His memory is honored by the international Thoreau Society.

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The above people are my top 5 who garnered great fame after their demise, but there are quite a few more, which I will include as honorable mentions: Steig Larsson, the author of the Millennium trilogy of crime novels which were published after his death of a sudden heart attack in 2004 (age 50), was the second best selling author in 2008 (after Khaled Hosseini). The writer/artist, Henry Darger, became famous for his posthumously discovered 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred drawings and watercolor paintings illustrating the story. Darger died in 1973 at age 81. After John Kennedy Toole's suicide in 1969 at the age of 31, his mother found his manuscript for A Confederacy of Dunces and fought to have it published. It was finally published in  1980 and Toole posthumously received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Dunces in 1981.

I suppose it just goes to show that anyone can become famous at any given time. Who knows, perhaps after my demise this blog will garner much more acclaim. Ummmmmmmm, probably not.