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Today, thanks to the internet, the lives of authors are often laid bare, but this wasn’t always the case. Decades ago, uncovering intriguing details about a writer or public figure required a lot more effort and curiosity.
While some of the world’s most gifted writers are celebrated for their literary masterpieces, their personal stories are far more mysterious. These ten writers lived strikingly diverse and captivating lives, and although many details exist, these ten facts are among the most remarkable.
10. Ernest Hemingway Survived Two Plane Crashes in Quick Succession
Ernest Hemingway led an extraordinary life, making it nearly impossible to pick just one intriguing aspect of his journey. From serving as an ambulance driver in WWI and receiving the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery and the Bronze Star, to covering the Spanish Civil War and working as a correspondent for Time magazine during WWII, Hemingway’s life was filled with remarkable experiences. However, it nearly ended after surviving two plane crashes in 1954.
The first of these incidents occurred when he and his wife boarded a sightseeing charter flight from Nairobi to the Murchison Falls on the lower Victoria Nile River. During the flight, the plane struck a utility pole and crashed, leaving everyone on board in need of medical care. Afterward, they boarded another flight to Entebbe, but the plane exploded while on the runway, severely injuring Hemingway. By the time they reached Entebbe by truck, the local press had already announced his death, allowing the Hemmingways to read about their own obituaries.
9. Stephen King Doesn’t Remember Writing Cujo
Stephen King, known for his impressive output of nearly 100 novels throughout his career, has one notable work that he doesn't recall writing at all. That book is Cujo, written in 1981, which was his eleventh completed novel. Despite its fame, King has no memory of the process of writing, nor even of its publication.
In his memoir On Writing, King shared the reason for his forgetfulness about Cujo, revealing that he barely remembers writing it. He admitted this not with pride or shame, but with a sense of sorrow and loss, stating, "I like that book. I wish I could remember enjoying the good parts as I put them down on the page." The cause for his memory gap was his struggles with alcoholism and cocaine addiction at the time. He was consuming a case of beer every night, but he has since overcome those addictions and has been sober for many years.
8. Jack Kerouac Never Learned How To Drive
Jack Kerouac was a more prolific writer than many realize, having written a total of 20 novels by the time of his death in 1969 from acute liver damage. Despite his extensive body of work, Kerouac is best known for On the Road, which was published in September of 1957. His writing about the Beat Generation garnered praise and drew comparisons to The Sun Also Rises, a seminal work for the Lost Generation. On the Road became a best-seller and chronicled Kerouac's travels across the United States.
On the Road, Kerouac’s second novel, helped to solidify the Beat Generation in the United States. Interestingly, the author, who wrote a book about traveling the country, never learned how to drive. Despite the book's theme of journeying across America, Kerouac didn't possess a driver's license and had no desire for one. Instead, he relied on his friend Neal Cassady and buses for transportation, never taking the wheel himself. This is surprising, given the famous line, "What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing."
7. George Eliot Was Not The Man People Thought He Was
George Eliot, a prominent Victorian novelist, is celebrated for her seven novels, especially Middlemarch, which is considered one of the greatest novels of all time. Despite her literary success, many readers didn’t know that George Eliot was a pen name used by Mary Ann Evans. Although women could write under their own names during the mid to late 19th century, Evans chose to let people think that the works came from the mind of a man rather than a woman.
At the time, most female authors were known for writing romance novels, but Eliot’s works, focused on life in provincial England, stood out. By using a male pen name, she ensured that her novels were taken seriously. Another reason for her decision was her career as an editor and critic, and she wanted to keep her fiction separate from her professional life. Additionally, she may have wanted to shield her personal life from scrutiny, especially regarding her relationship with a married man, to avoid any potential scandal.
6. Franz Kafka Never Finished Writing A Single Book
Franz Kafka is a writer many encounter in high school through his iconic short story, 'Metamorphosis.' His distinct writing style left a profound impact on literature after his death in 1924, securing him as a key figure in the 20th century's modernist movement. Kafka's use of absurd, surreal circumstances to explore themes that were often considered taboo made his works stand out. In fact, his unique style became so influential that it led to the creation of the term 'Kafkaesque,' used to describe works that resemble his narrative approach.
Though Kafka is regarded as one of the most significant writers of his era, he never completed a novel. However, he did see a number of his stories published while he was alive. After Kafka's death, his close friend and literary executor, Max Brod, compiled and published three of his incomplete novels. Kafka had actually asked Brod to destroy his unfinished works, but Brod chose to defy this request, using Kafka's notes and understanding of the author to finish the novels, which are still in print today.
5. J.R.R. Tolkien Worked As A Researcher For The Oxford English Dictionary
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, widely celebrated as one of the 20th century's greatest authors, was also a poet, philologist, and academic. His masterpieces in high fantasy, including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and The Silmarillion, helped shape the modern fantasy genre. Tolkien’s influence is so profound that he's often considered the 'father of modern fantasy literature.' Beyond his literary fame, however, Tolkien also worked as a researcher for the Oxford English Dictionary after his service in World War I.
Tolkien's work on the Oxford English Dictionary marked his first civilian job after leaving the military. He dedicated much of his efforts to studying the history and origins of words beginning with the letter W, with a particular focus on those of Germanic descent. Among his contributions to the dictionary were clarifying the etymology of words like 'walrus,' 'wampum,' and 'waggle.' Language was one of Tolkien's strengths, and following his work on the dictionary, he spent a significant portion of the 1920s translating Beowulf, though his translation was not published until 2014, almost 90 years after its completion.
4. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Was A Believer In The Supernatural
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, best known for creating the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes in 1887, was not just a writer but also a physician. Holmes, a character celebrated for solving mysteries through logic and reasoning, has become an iconic figure, inspiring novels, short stories, television shows, and movies. Given Holmes' methodical, rational approach, it's surprising to learn that Doyle himself had a deep fascination with mysticism and the supernatural.
Doyle's interest in the supernatural led him to form a close friendship with Harry Houdini, the world's most famous illusionist. While Houdini openly admitted that his feats were based on illusion and trickery, Doyle was not convinced. The author believed that Houdini possessed genuine supernatural abilities that enabled him to perform his remarkable acts. Houdini, however, resented this view, as he was a vocal opponent of the Spiritualism movement of the 1920s and regularly exposed spiritualists as frauds. This difference of opinion led to a highly public and bitter falling-out between the two.
3. Boris Pasternak Refused The Nobel Prize In Literature
Although Boris Pasternak might not be widely recognized in the West, he is considered one of the 20th century's greatest novelists. His early success as a poet laid the foundation for his literary career, enabling him to write a novel set during the tumultuous period between the 1905 Russian Revolution and World War II. That novel, Doctor Zhivago, has a fascinating backstory. Due to restrictions in the Soviet Union, Pasternak was unable to publish the book there, so he secretly smuggled the manuscript to Italy where it was published in 1957. The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of the highest honors a writer can receive, and the mere consideration for it is a rare feat. However, when the time came for Pasternak to accept his Nobel Prize, he chose to refuse it. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union pressured him into turning it down, which he did via a telegram stating, 'Considering the meaning this award has been given in the society to which I belong, I must reject this undeserved prize which has been presented to me. Please do not receive my voluntary rejection with displeasure.' Years later, in 1988, his descendants accepted the award on his behalf, and Doctor Zhivago has been part of Russian school curricula since 2003.
2. Louisa May Alcott Served In The Civil War
Louisa May Alcott, one of the most famous American novelists of the 19th century, wrote countless novels and short stories throughout her career. While her novel Little Women earned her a lasting place in literary history, it only represents part of her life. Set in the Alcott family home in Concord, Massachusetts, Little Women is loosely based on Alcott's own early years. However, much of Alcott’s life, especially her adventurous early experiences, isn’t reflected in her novels, though she wrote many short stories and letters that offer further insight into her life.
Alcott began her writing career in 1860 with the Atlantic Monthly, but when the Civil War erupted, she volunteered to serve. She worked as a nurse at the Union Hospital in Georgetown from 1862 to 1863. Initially intending to serve for only three months, Alcott contracted typhoid halfway through her tour, nearly losing her life. Her letters from this time were later revised and published in Commonwealth, followed by the release of Hospital Sketches. These works earned her significant critical acclaim, helping to secure her future as a writer. In 1868, Alcott published Little Women, quickly becoming one of the most-read authors of her time.
1. George Orwell 'Borrowed' The Plot Of 1984 From A Book He Reviewed
George Orwell, a revered English novelist, is best known for his powerful critiques of totalitarianism, whether socialist or fascist. His works are staples in high school curriculums, particularly his iconic books Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The latter presents a chilling dystopian future where personal freedoms are sacrificed for security, historical facts are distorted, and language is manipulated to destroy free thought and expression. The authoritarian society depicted, with its pervasive surveillance, serves as a warning of a potential future in any society.
Though Nineteen Eighty-Four is often considered Orwell’s crowning achievement, it was inspired by a novel he had previously reviewed. Years before publishing his own work, Orwell critiqued Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, a dystopian story set a thousand years after a revolution established the One State's rule. Orwell wasn’t impressed with We, calling it 'on the whole more relevant to our own situation.' He felt Zamyatin’s book lacked structure, so Orwell borrowed key elements from it when writing Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was released just three years after his review.
