Ellen Glasgow

popular name: Honoré de Balzac

date_of_death: August 18, 1850

age: 51

cause_of_death: Gangrene associated with congestive heart failure

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was one of the most influential writers of 19th-century French literature and a central figure in the development of literary realism. After initially studying law and briefly working in publishing and printing—ventures that left him deeply in debt—Balzac turned seriously to writing in the 1820s. He gained recognition for his ambitious project, La Comédie humaine, a vast collection of interconnected novels and stories that portrayed French society in the decades following the French Revolution and during the Bourbon Restoration. Over his career, Balzac produced more than 90 works, including major novels such as Père Goriot and Eugénie Grandet, which explored themes of ambition, class mobility, wealth, and moral struggle. Known for his intense writing habits—often fueled by large amounts of coffee—Balzac developed richly detailed characters who reappeared across different stories, creating a unified literary universe. Despite constant financial pressures and health problems, he continued writing prolifically until his death in 1850, leaving a body of work that profoundly influenced later novelists and helped shape the modern realist novel.

popular name: Erich Maria Remarque

date_of_death: September 25, 1970

age: 72

cause_of_death: Heart failure

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Erich Maria Remarque was a German-born novelist best known for his stark and poignant depictions of war and its aftermath. Born on June 22, 1898, in Osnabrück, Germany, he served as a soldier in World War I, an experience that profoundly shaped his worldview and writing. His most famous work, All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), is a powerful anti-war novel that presents the harrowing experiences of German soldiers during the Great War. The book was a massive success internationally but faced backlash in Nazi Germany, where it was banned and publicly burned. Remarque fled the country in the 1930s, eventually settling in the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen. Throughout his career, he continued to explore themes of disillusionment, exile, and the human cost of war in novels such as The Road Back, Arch of Triumph, and The Black Obelisk. Remarque died on September 25, 1970, in Locarno, Switzerland.

popular name: Jane Austen

date_of_death: July 18, 1817

age: 41

cause_of_death: Hodgkin’s disease

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels which include Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). With the first four novels which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century she achieved success as an author. She wrote two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. 200 years after her passing Austen continues to inspire many critical essays and literary anthologies. Her novels have inspired many films, from 1940's Pride and Prejudice to more recent productions like Sense and Sensibility (1995), Emma (1996), Mansfield Park (1999), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Love & Friendship (2016), and Emma (2020).