Thomas Wolfe

Birth Name:
Thomas Clayton Wolfe
Birth Date:
October 3, 1900
Birth Place:
Asheville, North Carolina
Death Date:
September 15, 1938
Place of Death:
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
Age:
37
Cause of Death:
Miliary tuberculosis
Cemetery Name:
Riverside Cemetery
Claim to Fame:
Writers and Poets
Thomas Wolfe is considered one of the most autobiographical novelists in American literature and is probably the greatest writer to come out of North Carolina. During his short life he wrote four novels; Look Homeward, Angel, Of Time and the River, The Web and the Rock, and You Can’t Go Home Again, as well as numerous short stories, novellas, and plays. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing. His books, written and published from the 1920s to the 1940s, vividly reflect on American culture and the mores of that period, filtered through Wolfe's sensitive, sophisticated, and hyper-analytical perspective. After Wolfe's death, contemporary author William Faulkner said that Wolfe might have been the greatest talent of their generation for aiming higher than any other writer. Wolfe's influence extends to the writings of Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac, and of authors Ray Bradbury and Philip Roth, among others.

Fun Facts

In 1998, the historic Old Kentucky Home in Ashville, North Carolina suffered damage in a fire that was later determined to have been the result of arson. Approximately 20% of the original structure and 15% of the artifact collection were destroyed. After intensive restoration to both the historic house and surviving artifact collection, the Old Kentucky Home once again opened its doors to visitors in May of 2004.

A signed, first edition of the Thomas Wolfe novel “Look Homeward, Angel” will set you back $2,800 to $16,000 depending on the condition of the book.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Riverside Cemetery

53 Birch Street

Ashville, North Carolina, 28801

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Riverside Cemetery in Ashville, North Carolina

Grave Location:

Section Q, Lot 1, Grave 6

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery Section Q is the first section you will encounter on your left. Continue to circle the perimeter until you are on the downhill side of the section looking at a 2-step concrete steps to his monument. Oh, and there are signs that will point his headstone out to you.

Grave Location GPS

35.6016160, -82.5698590

Photos:

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Read More About Thomas Wolfe:

Videos Featuring Thomas Wolfe:
Thomas Wolfe, Great American Author
Thomas Wolfe documentary
A Story of the Buried Life - The Thomas Wolfe Memorial
William Faulkner on Wolfe
Julia Wolfe, 85, talks about her son, American author Thomas Wolfe (1945)
Thomas Wolfe Grave & Related Sites

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popular name: Albert Camus

date_of_death: January 4, 1960

age: 46

cause_of_death: Automobile accident

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Albert Camus was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. Some of his best known works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall, and The Rebel.The dominant philosophical contribution of Camus’s work is absurdism. While he is often associated with existentialism, he rejected the label, expressing surprise that he would be viewed as a philosophical ally of Sartre. Elements of absurdism and existentialism are present in Camus’s most celebrated writing especially in The Myth of Sisyphus (1942). The protagonists of The Stranger and The Plague must also confront the absurdity of social and cultural orthodoxies, with dire results. Camus died on January 4, 1960 at the age of 46, in a car accident near Sens, in Le Grand Fossard in the small town of Villeblevin. He had spent the New Year's holiday of 1960 at his house in Lourmarin, Vaucluse with his family, and his publisher Michel Gallimard, along with Gallimard's wife, Janine, and daughter. Camus's wife and children went back to Paris by train but Camus decided to return in Gallimard's luxurious Facel Vega FV2. The car crashed into a plane tree on a long straight stretch of the Route nationale 5. Camus, who was in the passenger seat, died instantly. Gallimard died a few days later, although his wife and daughter were unharmed.

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popular name: Émile Zola

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age: 62

cause_of_death: Carbon monoxide poisoning caused by an improperly ventilated chimney, but some speculation of possible homicide

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

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age: 68

cause_of_death: Heart failure after suffering a stroke during treatment for kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

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