AUTHORS PUBLISHING THEIR BOOKS POSTHUMOUSLY

Who says everything comes to an end after death? If that is the case then how come some marvelous masterpieces in literature are only published after the death of an author due to unavoidable problems that might have occurred during the authors' time of reign.

The first author who gained popularity only after his death is William Blake. From a young age Blake said he had “visions” of God. As Blake grew up, his visions became more frequent, and he desperately tried to communicate his visions of the supernatural through his work. Although he died in poverty, his works were preserved and published after his death.

The second one is Søren Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard is known for using a wide variety of pseudonymous author names for his texts. His writings include many genres like political tracts, Christian exegetical works, aesthetic treatises, and novels. Although he was highly ridiculed for his work, but today he is hailed as one of the deepest religious thinker ever.

The third one is Henry David Thoreau. Heavily influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau decided to live as close to nature as possible and record his experiences. But he was mostly unknown during his time of survival. After his death, he suddenly came into limelight and people started appreciating his works.

The fourth personality in the list is Du Fu. He is a famous Chinese poet. He struggled almost all his life with various serious diseases and was always moving from one job to another. Then he started writing heart-warming poems but unfortunately died of reasons not yet known.

The fifth one is the very popular John Keats. Although he trained to be a doctor, Keats discovered he was squeamish while at school and decided to try his luck as a poet. Keats lived most of his life in poverty and died at a very young age thinking of himself as a failure. However, he is considered as one of the best writers of the romantic era.

The sixth one in the list is Emily Dickinson. Although Emily Dickinson sent a few of her poems out for publication in local newspapers, they were either rejected or heavily edited. However as she grew older she locked herself in her room and used to write poems mostly about nature and death. Although her sister Lavinia destroyed her correspondences after her death Lavinia didn’t destroy the 1,800 poems she discovered in one of her sister’s drawers.

The seventh one is Herman Melville. He lived a seafaring life for most of his twenties, sailing as far as the Marquesas Islands and finally returning to Boston. Although his early novels were fairly successful, his latter ones struggled in the market. Almost forgotten in the literary world he however continued to write short stories and they are considered one of the best today.

The eighth one is John Kennedy Toole. He was an exceptionally bright student and went on to write his first novel at the young age of 16. After sometime he began his masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces, but could not find a publisher. He committed suicide and this famous book won the Pulitzer award posthumously.

The ninth one in the list is Philip K. Dick. Despite his battles with drug addiction, anxiety, and poverty, Dick was one of the most prolific writers in the Science-fiction genre. Although he did achieve fame for a few of his works, main stream approval always eluded him. Today Philip K. Dick is beloved by casual readers and critics alike.

The tenth one in the list is Franz Kafka. As many Western authors before him, Kafka led a very sad life. After graduation he spent most of his life working as an insurance agent which he detested. It was during twilight that his imaginations would come out in the form of words.He attempted to make his living as a writer but died due to illness a little while later and could not get the recognition.

Thus these authors have given us a lot to cherish about but were really unfortunate that they could not enjoy this fame when they were alive.