Literary geniuses who committed suicide

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By prof.Abdelhamid Fouda 

1. Virginia Woolf

Famous English writer Virginia Woolf suffered from a serious depression after she finished writing her last book. She was also one of those who were terribly affected by the post-war world order. In 1941, she filled her pockets with stones and jumped into the Ouse river.

2. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

American author Ernest Hemingway lived an extraordinary life. He suffered from depression, paranoia and alcoholism during his whole life.

He shot himself from the head in the summer of 1961.

3. Sylvia Plath

American poet, Sylvia Plath, suffered from extreme bipolar disorder and had to take anti-depressants all her life. Her first suicide attempt was when she was in her sophomore year at Smith College. She, however, graduated as a very successful young woman.

In 1963, she left milk and cookies for her little kids, taped the door to make sure the gas couldn’t leak into their room, and committed suicide by putting her head into the oven.

4.Yukio Mishima (1925-1970)

If not the most important Japanese novelist of the last century, he was surely its best stylist. Plagued by contradictions — sexual, social and political — his later works are full of blood and death.

He had planned his death for over a year, finishing his last novel and getting his finances in order. He committed seppuku (disembowelment), the traditional Japanese method of suicide