Art, obsession, and identity
Practically every artist dreams of making an impact with their work, and the same goes for writers. Unfortunately, many writers never successfully publish a book. Then there are those who do reach success, but only posthumously, after their deaths. Others made such a name for themselves that even their unfinished works captured the world's interest after their passing.
Want to know more? Then check out this gallery for some famous books that were published after their authors passed away.
Completed in 1799, 'Northanger Abbey' was Austen's first work to be accepted by a publisher. But it was only released a few months after she died in 1817.
The last novel Austen ever completed, 'Persuasion,' was published in the same volume as 'Northanger Abbey.'
At the time of her death, Austen was working on a new book she called 'The Brothers.' It was later titled 'Sandition,' and included 11 chapters.
Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson started writing his planned 10-book series in 2002. But he only handed in the first two books to publishers. The third was partially written. He died of a heart attack in 2004 before any of them were released.
The first book of the series, 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,' was published a year after his death in Sweden. The English translation was published three years later, becoming a worldwide sensation.
The Millennium series continued after Larsson’s original books, with journalist David Lagercrantz having penned the fourth, fifth, and sixth books. It sold more than 80 million copies and was adapted into several films.
One of the most famous poets of the 20th century, Sylvia Plath only published 'The Colossus and Other Poems' and 'The Bell Jar' before dying at the age of 30 in 1963.
Having left behind volumes of unpublished work, her estranged husband, Ted Hughes, edited 'Ariel,' which was published in 1965.
Arguably the most famous book to be published posthumously, 'The Diary of a Young Girl' features a collection of diary entries written by Anne Frank, during her time in hiding from the Nazis.
Anne documented what life was like after her family, along with a group of other Jews, moved into a secret annex. On August 4, 1944, three days after her last diary entry, they were discovered and sent away to concentration camps. Her father, Otto Frank, was the only surviving family member.
Later, Anne’s writings were discovered by her father’s secretary, Miep Gies, who handed them to him when he was liberated from Auschwitz. He arranged for the publication of Anne's diary in 1947, two years after she died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.
After his education, Franz Kafka worked as an insurance agent until he became too sick due to tuberculosis. He died in 1924, at the age of 40.
He wrote extensively during his spare time, but only came to publish a few short stories, such as 'Metamorphosis' in 1915. None of his novels were published during his lifetime.
Kafka left his work to his friend, author Max Brod, whom he instructed to destroy everything. Instead, Brod published the majority of what Kafka had left behind. 'Amerika,' 'The Trial,' and 'The Castle' are all considered classics.
Another famous posthumously published novel, Charles Dickens died before finishing the manuscript of 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood.'
Upon Dickens' death in 1870, he had only written six of a planned 12 chapters. He left no detailed plan for the remaining chapters, which makes the novel an intriguing mystery.
Published in 1993, a year after Alex Haley passed away, the novel is a combination of history and fiction. It tells the story of Haley’s paternal grandmother, the biracial daughter of an enslaved woman and her enslaver.
Haley died before the book was finished. But at his request, it was completed by Australian writer David Stevens. The book was adapted into a popular miniseries, starring Halle Berry in one of her earliest roles.
Mikhail Bulgakov started writing the famous novel in 1928, but burnt the first draft two years later, when he didn't see himself having a future as a writer in the Soviet Union.
But by 1931, he had started again, and wrote multiple drafts before he died in 1940. The novel was initially published in two heavily censored versions in the Russian magazine Moskva in 1966 and 1967. At the same time, a manuscript was smuggled to France, where it was first published as a book. But it wasn't until 1973 that an uncensored version was finally published in Russia.
Theodore Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, wrote some of the most famous children’s books of all time. He passed away in 1991 at the age of 87.
Published in 1995, 'Daisy-Head Mayzie' was the first of his books to be published posthumously. Narrated by his iconic The Cat in the Hat character, it was illustrated to mimic his distinctive style.
Ralph Ellison began working on 'Juneteenth,' his second novel, around 1954. But despite publishing eight excerpts of the manuscript and putting in tons of work, it wasn't published during his lifetime.
Ellison stated that he was bedeviled by writer’s block. He even claimed that around 500 pages were burned in a fire at his Plainfield, Massachusetts, home. But this has been doubted by many, including his biographer, Arnold Rampersad.
Despite all these setbacks, Ellison left behind more than 2,000 pages of material when he died in 1994, at the age of 80. The novel was finally published in 1999.
'Suite Française' was the first of a planned sequence of five novels by Irène Némirovsky, a French writer of Ukrainian-Jewish origin.
In July 1942, having just completed the first two of the series, Némirovsky was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where she died at the age of 39. The notebook containing the two novels was saved by her daughters, but only examined in 1998. They were published in a single book in 2004.
Known for writing darkly comedic novels for kids, Dahl's last work was surprisingly commissioned by the British Railways Board to educate children about the railway system. It was published in 1991, a year after he died.
Famous for his cynically humorous style, Dahl would have likely enjoyed the irony of his posthumously published work being a rule book.
Sources: (Mental Floss) (The New Republic)
Famous books that were published posthumously
These books were released after their author's passing
LIFESTYLE Literature
Practically every artist dreams of making an impact with their work, and the same goes for writers. Unfortunately, many writers never successfully publish a book. Then there are those who do reach success, but only posthumously, after their deaths. Others made such a name for themselves that even their unfinished works captured the world's interest after their passing.
Want to know more? Then check out this gallery for some famous books that were published after their authors passed away.