Thomas Wolfe

popular name: Franz Kafka

date_of_death: June 3, 1924

age: 40

cause_of_death: Laryngeal tuberculosis and starvation

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Bohemian writer born on July 3, 1883, in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now the Czech Republic). He is widely regarded as one of the most influential literary figures of the 20th century. Kafka was born into a middle-class Jewish family and had a complicated relationship with his domineering father, which deeply influenced his writing. He studied law at the University of Prague and worked for much of his life in insurance, writing in his spare time. Kafka’s works often explore themes of alienation, absurdity, and the oppressive power of bureaucracy, with his most famous stories including The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle. His distinctive style blends realism with surreal, nightmarish scenarios, reflecting a sense of existential dread. Despite writing prolifically, Kafka published only a few works during his lifetime and instructed his friend Max Brod to destroy his manuscripts after his death. Brod ignored these wishes and instead edited and published much of Kafka’s work, securing his posthumous reputation. Upon his passing, the grave of Franz Kafka can be found at New Jewish Cemetery in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

popular name: Fannie Farmer

date_of_death: January 15, 1915

age: 57

cause_of_death: Complications from a paralytic stroke

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: American cooking expert, author, and educator Fannie Farmer was an authority in the art of cooking, author of six books about food preparation (including her impressive, highly significant Boston Cooking School Cookbook (1896), of which twenty-one editions were printed before her death) and was the director of the Boston Cooking School. Despite suffering a debilitating stroke at the young age of 16, after 2 years of rehabilitation Miss Farmer became a self-taught culinary expert who continued her passion right up to the end with her final lecture given from a wheelchair 10 days before her passing.

popular name: Alexandre Dumas

date_of_death: December 5, 1870

age: 68

cause_of_death: Natural causes - possible heart attack

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Alexandre Dumas was a French writer, best know for his works "The Count of Monte Cristo", "The Three Musketeers", "Twenty Years After", and "The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later". His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century into nearly 200 films. Though married, in the tradition of Frenchmen of higher social class, Dumas had numerous affairs (allegedly as many as 40). He was known to have had at least four illegitimate children, although twentieth-century scholars believe it was seven. He acknowledged and assisted his son, Alexandre Dumas, to become a successful novelist and playwright.