Literary One-Hit Wonders
July 10, 2012
Like winning the lottery, writing a best-selling novel can set you up for life or lead to your downfall. Some of the most famous authors in the world, whether by choice or by destiny, are actually one-hit wonders. Why would these talented authors have only one book as their claim to fame? I did some research on my top five, and here is what I found:
Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind (1936) – deplored the fame and attention and vowed to never write another book as long as she lived. On August 16, 1949, she died from injuries sustained from being struck by a drunk driver.
Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) – lives a quiet life in New York City and avoids anything to do with her still popular novel. She also assisted her long-time friend Truman Capote with writing In Cold Blood, but apparently got no acknowledgement from him for her contributions.
Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) – was arrested in 1895 for gross indecency and spent the last three years of his life wandering Europe unable to rekindle his creative fire. He died in 1900 of complications from a severe ear infection.
Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights (1847) – became ill during her brother’s funeral in September of 1848 and died that December of tuberculosis.
Anna Sewell – Black Beauty (1878) – became increasingly ill while writing her book and died just months after it was released. She was aware of its early popularity but never knew that it would become a beloved children’s classic.
So, for all you aspiring authors out there, maybe writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is not all it’s cracked up to be…or is it?
Happy writing!
Mary T.
Blue Springs North Branch
Comments
A Confederacy of Dunces
No love for John Kennedy Toole? He only wrote two books, A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize 20 years after his death. His only other work was a short novel The Neon Bible. I've read both and while The Neon Bible is a fine book A Confederacy of Dunces greatly outshines his other work.
Also what about Johnathan Swift and Mary Shelley?
I wouldn't call Oscar Wilde a
I wouldn't call Oscar Wilde a one hit wonder... he may have only written one novel, but many of his plays and short stories are still popular.
I agree. He's written several
I agree. He's written several popular plays and was quite famous for most of them. Although they aren't technically novels, they are all just as good.
So true...
So true, yet he does appear on the literary one-hit wonder lists for his sole novel as were F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger and Herman Melville.
Fitzgerald a one hit wonder?
With books like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Tender is the Night along with The Great Gatsby, how is Fitzgerald a one hit wonder?
Fitzgerald?
Maybe because The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a short story and The Great Gatsby is the one novel that gave him his place in history as a literary great. Like musical one-hit wonders, the singer/band may have recorded enough songs to complete an album or more, but only had one real hit. I'm not really sure, just saying. It is controversial, isn't it!
Harper Lee and Truman Capote
The biography that I read stated that Harper Lee turned over all her notes and research for "In Cold Blood" to Capote and while he did dedicate the book to her and to his partner, Jack Dunphy, he did not acknowledge her or her contribution to the book. I was surprised by that, too! Maybe he thought the dedication was enough.
Oscar
I did not know that Dorian Gray was Oscar Wilde's only novel! You've educated me!
-Peyton
Death by The End
Wow! Makes you wonder if maybe by writing "THE END", they themselves sealed their fate.
Harper Lee and Truman Capote
Truman Capote did not acknowledge Harper Lee's help with writing "In Cold Blood?" That was really unfair of him!
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