How Famous Writers Killed Themselves
In the newly published book, The Dedalus Book of Literary Suicides: Dead Letters (February 7, 2008), Gary Lachman writes about ten famous literary figures who have taken their own lives.
Anne Sexton gassed herself in her car, Ernest Hemmingway shot his own head with a pistol, Thomas Chatterton took arsenic, Heinrich von Kleist shot his cancer-ridden lover before putting the gun’s barrel in his own mouth, Gerard de Nerval hanged himself, and Jack London died of a morphine overdose.
The following were extracted by Times Online from the book (which I’m adding to my book wishlist). Of the ten literary suicides, I find these two the most heartwrenching:
