Bizarre Author Deaths VIII

Yes I am aware that I stated fairly emphatically four weeks ago that there would be no further instalments to the Bizarre Author Deaths series.  However it transpired that I had overlooked two worthy inclusions.

Albert Camus

(November 7th 1913 – January 4th 1960) 

Notable works: The Rebel, The Stranger & The Plague

The Algerian born Albert Camus was a Nobel Prize winning author, journalist and philosopher, who contributed to the rise of absurdist philosophy.  Camus is perhaps best remembered today for his seminal work, The Plague, a philosophical work of fiction about a plague epidemic that explores themes such as destiny and solidarity.

In January 1960 the forty-six-year-old writer was about to embark on a train journey from Provence to Paris, when his publisher and friend, Michel Gallimand, persuaded him to take the train instead.  The author never made it to Paris, as Gallimand lost control of the car near Sens, killing Camus instantly.

Fifty-one years later a Milanese newspaper claimed Camus had been killed in an elaborate plot orchestrated by the KGB, due to the author’s relentless criticism of the Soviet Union.  Examples of Camus’s hatred for the Soviets included a scathing attack in his work, L’Homme Révolté (The Rebel), as well as an anti-Soviet speech in 1957 on the anniversary of the previous year’s Hungarian Revolution.  However most analysts have dispelled this conspiracy theory as being false and fanciful.

Gustav Kobbé 

(March 4th 1857 – July 27th 1918)

Notable works: Miriam, The Pianolist & The Complete Opera Book

American music critic and author Gustav Kobbé had a successful career contributing music and drama related articles to a host of influential magazines and periodicals.  After starting his career as co-editor of the Musical Review, he went on to become the music critic of the New York Herald.  Kobbé was on the verge of international fame with his nearly completed, The Complete Opera Book, when he met his demise.

On July 27th 1918, Kobbé, an avid sailor, was out sailing in the Great South Bay off Bay Shore, New York, when an errant seaplane coming into land, misjudged its descent and struck his boat, killing the opera critic instantly.

Kobbé’s almost finished work, The Complete Opera Book, was published posthumously in the United States in 1919 and the UK in 1922.  To this day it remains the opera lover’s bible.

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My second book, Necropolis, is due for release on April 24th.  Necropolis is a work of humorous dark fiction about a psychopath, who works for the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council.  Further information to follow …

Click here to read Bizarre Author Deaths VII