Edith Anisfield Wolf

popular name: William Shakespeare

date_of_death: April 23, 1616

age: 52

cause_of_death: Exact cause unknown - possibly died after a brief illness

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best work produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language.

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.

popular name: Jules Verne

date_of_death: March 24, 1905

age: 77

cause_of_death: Chronic diabetes and complications from a stroke

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Jules Verne was a French novelist, poet and playwright best known for his adventure novels and is often regarded as one of the pioneers of science fiction. Born in Nantes, France, Verne initially studied law but eventually turned to writing. He was heavily inspired by the technological advancements of his time and often incorporated them into his stories. Verne's most famous works include Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in Eighty Days, and The Mysterious Island. These novels blended adventure with futuristic scientific concepts and often predicted inventions like submarines and space travel. Despite some initial financial struggles, Verne gained fame and success after his works began to be published in serialized form. His imaginative stories captured the public's imagination, and he became one of the most translated authors of his time. Verne's later life was marked by personal tragedy, including a serious injury that left him partly disabled nonetheless he continued writing until his death in 1905.