EDGAR A LLAN POE
P
oe died days after he was found delirious on a
Baltimore street. Some say he was kidnapped,
drugged, dressed in a series of costumes, and
forced to vote for a political candidate at multiple
polling stations—a ballot-box-stuffing practice
known as “cooping.” (Needless to say, Poe could’ve
written his own death better.)
OSCAR WILDE
Ocritic-to-the-last Oscar Wilde remarked,
n his deathbed, literary enfant terrible and
“This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the
death. Either it goes or I do.” Let’s just say the
wallpaper stayed.
LI PO
L
i Po, an eighth-century Chinese poet, is said
to have drowned after trying to embrace
the reflection of the moon in the river. This
masterfully poetic death could not possibly
have been the result of one of Li’s legendary
drinking binges.
o get to a turtle’s chewy center, an eagle
will drop it on a rock. One day, a turtle
hit Aeschylus’s bald head instead, killing
the Greek tragedian the only way a turtle
can: in cold blood.
16 · The Doctors
ART BY MARNIE GALLOWAY
DEmily died of tuberculosis (for which she
ying young was the Brontës’ “thing.”
refused treatment), Charlotte of a mysterious illness she developed while pregnant.
Coincidentally (?), Em had long suspected
that the family water supply was contaminated by runoff from Haworth’s graveyard.
ANNE BRONTË
L
ike the third Obama sister, everyone forgets
about Anne Brontë (and her novel Agnes
Grey). But she’d like you to know that she died
even younger than her famous sisters and that
she suffered from tuberculosis for twice as
long as Emily before succumbing to it.
AESCHYLUS
T
CHARLOTTE & EMILY BRONTË
ANTON CHEKHOV
I
n his final years, Chekhov coughed up blood
regularly. Though he was a medical doctor by
day, he refused to admit he had tuberculosis.
When he finally died, his body was carried off
in a truck labeled “Oysters”—which happens
to be the title of one of his most famous short
stories.
ARTHUR RIMBAUD
A
fter a nasty breakup with fellow poet Paul
Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud quit writing in
favor of a more lucrative career path: international gun smuggling. Soon after, bone cancer
smuggled this ex–literary prodigy across the
fragile border between life and death.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
C
hristopher Marlowe, author of the play
Dr. Faustus, should’ve made a deal with
the devil before stabbing a dude in the head
over a bar tab. The dude stabbed him back (in
the eye) and then, depending on who you ask,
Marlowe either died or faked his death and
penned the works of Shakespeare.
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Art © 2014 by Marnie Galloway, text © 2014 by Cricket Media
Art © 2014 by Marnie Galloway, text © 2014 by Cricket Media
Art © 2014 by Marnie Galloway, text © 2014 by Cricket Media
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Art © 2014 by Marnie Galloway, text © 2014 by Cricket Media
Art © 2014 by Marnie Galloway, text © 2014 by Cricket Media
Art © 2014 by Marnie Galloway, text © 2014 by Cricket Media
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Art © 2014 by Marnie Galloway, text © 2014 by Cricket Media
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Art © 2014 by Marnie Galloway, text © 2014 by Cricket Media
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