Famous authors that could have lived a longer

Gancio The Ranter

Authors, directors and artists in general have the habit of dying too early, sometimes even before being acknowledged as talented people.
Which great authors could have lived longer and how would their careers evolve as the world changes around them
 

Claudius

E dgar Allen Poe, if he could have controlled his drinking. He was one of the founders of detective fiction and science fiction. He might have developed these genres further had he lived, He probably would have influenced writers like Ambrose Bierce and H,P, Lovecraft
 

thekingsguard

Robert Howard is the big one for me personally... he wrote more influential work in a decade by the time he was 30 than most authors do thier entire careers. He created Conan, Soloman Kane, Krull, was one of the seminal authors of the fantasy genre, dabbled in everything from boxing and war stories to Lovecraftian horror...

And all to end in suicide. Such a loss at such a young age.
 

ShortsBelfast

In a TL with no WW1, Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen, Charles Hamilton Sorley, R H Vernede, "Saki". and Isaac Rosenberg. And Guillaume Apollinaire and Alain-Fournier in France and Alfred Lichtenstein, Ernst Stadler and August Stramm in Germany.
Without the rise of Hitler, Anne Frank could have grown to maturity.
No WW2 and we could have seen mature work from Keith Footitt, Quentin Lovell Drage and Hubert Sarsons and a longer career for Antoine de St. Exepury.
 

marktaha

Banned
Imagine Byron, Keats Shelley living to a ripe old age.Or the Brontes.
On a more prosaic novel - Grace Metalious?
 

Kaze

Banned
Claudius said:
E dgar Allen Poe, if he could have controlled his drinking. He was one of the founders of detective fiction and science fiction. He might have developed these genres further had he lived, He probably would have influenced writers like Ambrose Bierce and H,P, Lovecraft
Click to expand...
He already did inspire Lovecraft - Lovecraft even admitted Poe's influence in one of his letters to a "friend" (I am using friend loosely here). But I would want to see how Poe would expand the genres.
 

UCB79

Perhaps he doesn’t quite fit the definition of the OP but I’m going to put him in here because even though he was a historian, he published a # of books that were definitely read by many more people than is usual
for historical works. In fact I’m pretty certain some are still in print. The great Richard Hofstader wrote &
published such talked about & remembered books(which also left a mark in the American historical community- & it is no mean feat to be able to gain approval here & among @ least some of the general
public)as THE AGE OF REFORM, THE AMERICAN POLITICAL TRADITION, ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM
IN AMERICAN LIFE, & THE IDEA OF A PARTY SYSTEM(fellow AHC‘ers, you should all read @ least one of these books!) Tragically, he contracted leukemia & died @ only 54, in 1970.
 
Last edited:

GuildedAgeNostalgia

Claudius said:
E dgar Allen Poe, if he could have controlled his drinking. He was one of the founders of detective fiction and science fiction. He might have developed these genres further had he lived, He probably would have influenced writers like Ambrose Bierce and H,P, Lovecraft
Click to expand...
Anyone know what Poe's views were on slavery? Would he support North or South?
 

Mackon

Rickshaw said:
H.Beam Piper, author of various SF novels, including Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens among others.
Click to expand...
That's the one that popped into my mind, I don't know the full story but I have heard he killed himself in a fit of self-disgust over 'not being able to make a living as a writer', and barely a day later a check arrived in the mail from the sale of one of his books.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top