I’ve seen people talk about actors and artists that had a terrible time.
My own would be Anne Rice. She wrote Interview with the Vampire after her young daughter died of Leukemia. Then her husband suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage. I suspect her Christian, anti-fanfic phase was a result of mental illness and manipulation from the publishers, although I don’t think she ever apologized.
Edgar Allen Poe. He’s a household name now, but during his lifetime no one appreciated his work. I wish he could see just how widespread his words have become.
Poe had the most tragic personal life imaginable. Everyone that he loved died before their time.
He’s my pick too. What a sad and tragic life.
I thought he was famous enough to read his work on stage? I think the arts just don’t pay well and of course, at the time he wasn’t known as one of the greatest American writers of all time. That almost never happens. But I think it’s not entirely accurate to say his work wasn’t appreciated. His life was tragic though, although, the past was generally a rough time.
Even among compared to his contemporaries, he did quite poorly (at least, in America—for some reason, French people were his biggest fans during his lifetime). There were plenty of poor poets, but he really struggled just to stay at the bottom of the barrel. He also inspired other writers such as Ranpo who went on to popularize the detective fiction genre Poe originally started…but even then, many of his stories remained obscure for a long time even as his pupils achieved fame. When he died he was still unknown, Compared to now, when he and his works are practically the face of a major yearly holiday? I’d definitely say that counts as under appreciated.
Poe was a household name when he died (due to “The Raven”, mostly). Although he was better known as a literary critic. He was well known enough that a biography of him was written the year after he died.
However, he did die at age 40, after losing two wives. Which is tragic in and of itself.