Life Spans of Literary Giants

Charles Dickens' 200th birthday on Feb. 7 and Edith Wharton's 150th birthday on Jan. 24 got me thinking about how old famous novelists were when they died. Here are some of the longer-living ones I found:

Eudora Welty, 92 (1909-2001)
Upton Sinclair, 90 (1878-1968)
Saul Bellow, 89 (1915-2005)
Agatha Christie, 85 (1890-1976)
Harriet Beecher Stowe, 85 (1811-1896)

How does the longevity of notable authors compare to the longevity of adults in general? In an effort to be at least pseudo-scientific, I found a website that lists the average ages people reached during different eras. But before I say more, some additional life spans:

Norman Mailer, 84 (1923-2007)
Erskine Caldwell, 83 (1903-1987)
Leo Tolstoy, 82 (1828-1910)
Daphne du Maurier, 81 (1907-1989)
William Styron, 81 (1925-2006)

According to the aforementioned Web site, the average white male who reached the age of 20 in 1850, 1900, and 1950 eventually lived to 60.1, 62.19, and 69.52, respectively; the average white female reaching 20 in those three eras lived to 60.2, 63.77, and 74.56, respectively; and people of color reaching 20 in those three eras unfortunately died four to eight years sooner than their white counterparts. Another interlude:

Colette, 81 (1873-1954)
Robert Heinlein, 80 (1907-1988)
H.G. Wells, 79 (1866-1946)
Thornton Wilder, 78 (1897-1975)
Jules Verne, 77 (1828-1905)

I'm only listing some novelists, of course, so it's hard to make statistically sound comparisons. But it looks like the average age of the white-male authors I'm naming in this post was a little higher than the average age of the general white-male population during those years. Another interlude:

John Updike, 76 (1932-2009)
Booth Tarkington, 76 (1869-1946)
Joseph Heller, 76 (1923-1999)
Edith Wharton, 75 (1862-1937)
Mark Twain, 74 (1835-1910)

I listed fewer white-female novelists, because fewer women were published in the past and some of the best authors (like Margaret Atwood) are still living. But those who were adults in the 1900s had life spans a little longer than those of non-novelist females, and the women writers who found success in the 1800s had a lower average life span than non-writers (the tragic early deaths of the Bronte sisters didn't help). Another interlude:

Willa Cather, 73 (1873-1947)
Isaac Asimov, 72 (1920-1992)
Erich Maria Remarque, 72 (1898-1970)
Herman Melville, 72 (1819-1891)
Bernard Malamud, 71 (1914-1986)

My sampling of novelists of color is even smaller than for white-female authors. Again, there were plenty of publishing roadblocks in the past, and some of the best writers (like Toni Morrison) are still living. Another interlude:

Aldous Huxley, 69 (1894-1963)
Zora Neale Hurston, 69 (1891-1960)
Alexandre Dumas, 68 (1802-1870)
Anthony Trollope, 67 (1815-1882)
L.M. Montgomery, 67 (1874-1942)

One would expect successful novelists to reach an older age than people in many other professions, because fame and career satisfaction often bring life-lengthening income and happiness. And there's also some circular logic involved, because longevity can mean more books and more acclaim. Another interlude:

John Steinbeck, 66 (1902-1968)
Sinclair Lewis, 65 (1885-1951)
Wilkie Collins, 65 (1824-1889)
William Faulkner, 64 (1897-1962)
James Baldwin, 63 (1924-1987)

But some novelists didn't get enough life-lengthening exercise because of all that sedentary time spent writing! Another interlude:

Emile Zola, 62 (1840-1902)
Ernest Hemingway, 61 (1899-1961)
Walter Scott, 61 (1771-1832)
George Eliot, 61 (1819-1880)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, 59 (1804-1864)

And it didn't help the health of those unlucky authors who wrote superb novels that got poor reviews and sales during their lifetimes (a la Herman Melville and his whale of a book). Another interlude:

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 59 (1821-1881)
James Joyce, 58 (1882-1941)
Charles Dickens, 58 (1812-1870)
Louisa May Alcott, 55 (1832-1888)
James Hilton, 54 (1900-1954)

Some novelists dealt with health-sapping racism and sexism. Some (such as Honore de Balzac) worked so hard that it might have contributed to their early deaths. Some had high-strung personalities that led to "self-medicating" with alcohol and drugs. Some took advantage of the many invitations their celebrity brought and partied too hard. Another interlude:

Kate Chopin, 53 (1851-1904)
Mary Shelley, 53 (1797-1851)
Richard Wright, 52 (1908-1960)
Marcel Proust, 51 (1871-1922)
Honore de Balzac, 51 (1799-1850)

There was also the occasional suicide (Ernest Hemingway) and car-accident death (Albert Camus). Another interlude:

Carson McCullers, 50 (1917-1967)
George Orwell, 46 (1903-1950)
Albert Camus, 46 (1913-1960)
F. Scott Fitzgerald, 44 (1896-1940)
Robert Louis Stevenson, 44 (1850-1894)

Then there was the possible 1902 murder of Emile Zola, who died in his sleep of carbon-monoxide poisoning caused by a stopped-up chimney. Zola had enemies because of his courageous 1898 statement publicly denouncing the wrongful conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army. A last interlude:

Jane Austen, 41 (1775-1817)
Charlotte Bronte, 38 (1816-1855)
Emily Bronte, 30 (1818-1848)
Anne Bronte, 29 (1820-1849)
Stephen Crane, 28 (1871-1900)

And the life span of writing this blog post was Feb. 5, 2012, to Feb. 8, 2012. That said, if you have any comments about the longevity of famous authors, I'd love to read them!

 

Comments

[JoeyDee2]

03:27 PM on 02/10/2012

In the 19th century, if you lived into your 70s, you were doing pretty well. Melville, who admitted directly to Hawthorne that he expected to be annihilated, died in obscurity, along with his masterpiece, MD, which was not revived for decades. His early fame lay in his south sea adventures. 3,000 copies of MD were published in 1851 and people thought he went a little funny in the head. 1,000 copies were sold and the rest burned as obscene. Later, he followed up with even darker, less accessible works like Pierre, or the Ambiguities and The Confidence Man which I could barely manage in grad. school. I've read Moby-Dick three times. The first time you have no idea. A thorough understanding requires three readings spread over different periods.

Stephen Crane's early demise (28, 29) probably deprived the literary world of some great works if the naturalistic The Open Boat, Red Badge of Courage, and Maggie, a Girl of the Streets were any indicators.

In the 20th century, not only did Hemingway commit suicide, but was plagued with congenital depression and alcoholism. In his later years he spent a great deal of time Cuba. When the gin came out at 11 a.m., he'd say, "Well, it's noon in Miami."

You also mentioned Atwood. Just started The Year of the Flood Today. Like!

["Dave Astor"]

05:55 PM on 02/10/2012

What an informative, interesting comment! Thanks, JoeyDee2! Given the stuff Melville had to deal with, lasting until 72 wasn't bad. It's kind of sad that his very first novel -- "Typee" (one of those South Sea adventures you mentioned) -- turned out to be his best-selling one. A very good book, but certainly nowhere near his greatest.

It's amazing how much excellent stuff Stephen Crane wrote at such a young age. Like the Bronte sisters, who knows what he would have come up with if he lasted until even middle age?

Glad you're enjoying the great Margaret Atwood's most recent novel. I've never read anything of hers I didn't like!

[lexisderothschild]

07:15 AM on 02/10/2012

A wonderful exploration of writing. Healthy for some. Others, not so much!

["Dave Astor"]

12:38 PM on 02/10/2012

Thanks for the kind words, lexisderothschild! And your second and third lines summed things up as well and as concisely as can be!

[Jerry Zezima]

09:21 PM on 02/09/2012

Fascinating piece, Dave. It even involves math. While reading, I was working out a system for staying alive longer and decided to start writing novels. Then I read further and saw all the writers who died young and decided to stick to nonfiction. Maybe I should get a second opinion.

["Dave Astor"]

07:55 AM on 02/10/2012

Thanks for the great comment, Jerry! Perhaps the solution is to write a nonfiction book titled "How to Live Longer"? As for me, I still don't regret reading "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"!

[Glenda Winders]

05:31 PM on 02/08/2012

And then there's poor Thomas Wolfe who died at 38, probably caused by the ill will of some of the North Carolina locals who were only thinly disguised in his books.

[Dave Astor]

06:05 PM on 02/08/2012

That's a fascinating point. Thanks! Another author, Emile Zola (mentioned in my post), didn't endear himself to some painters he knew after the release of his novel "The Masterpiece." From what I've read, one of the people he became estranged from was his childhood friend, Cezanne.

[Dave Astor]

01:39 PM on 02/08/2012

Yikes -- forgot to include "The Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien! He lived to 81 (1892-1973). There were many novelists I had to leave out to keep the post from getting too long, but Tolkien was an accidental omission.

[momoluvsu]

02:49 PM on 02/08/2012

Loved this Dave!! My issue: finishing Grad. school in May; so many books so little time.If I read all the books here at my house, I wouldn't have to leave to get in more for a decade!! LOL! Here is a deal, you keep reminding me of all that I am missing and I will keep reading every word (from YOU)!! Happy Wednesday!!

[Dave Astor]

04:20 PM on 02/08/2012

Thanks so much for your kind words, momoluvsu! I know what you mean about trying to find enough time to read; there have been years when I was so busy that I read many fewer books than I wanted to. Perhaps that will change for you after May. Good luck finishing graduate school!