By far, @PickyPicky3 , your anecdotes are the best, in the sense that they are the result of first-hand experiences with the authors themselves. Probably few of us are lucky enough to have had any of those.
I meant, also, the broader category of real life "stories" about the writers, extracted from their lives, and written about. I wish I could remember all the tidbits I've picked up over the years, just by reading bios and interviews, rats.
Let's see. Oh-- this always stuck in my mind. At least one credible biographer of Sylvia Plath, believes that her final suicide attempt, was almost certainly, although sincerely anquished, a cry for help, gone wrong. In other words, it was reasonable to think that she thought she'd be rescued before she died. If the timing of visiting nurse, etc., had not gone awry, it's a fairly sure thing she would have been rescued in time. So heart-breaking to think about-- a tragedy could have been averted, and she might have had many more years of living and creative brilliance...
Another tidbit that stopped me in my tracks is that the author of "Pilgrim's Progress", John Bunyan, as prolific as he was, spent over a decade in prison in the midst of his literary career, and didn't have to. In Britain in the 1600's, it was dangerous for "Puritans" and others to depart from the established Church of England creed, and the titanic Bunyan would not be deterred from interpreting the gospel as he knew it. And, he was told he could go home to his family at any time if he would just relent, but he did not. Such courage.
But at least he wasn't executed as so many others were.
Another item (that probably others who like Louisa May Alcott already know, but I didn't really, until recently), is that they've pretty much pinpointed the multi-symptom illness that plagued her for over 20 years and resulted in her early death in her 50's. She probably had acute mercury poisoning, resulting from a mercury treatment for typhoid, during the period that she nursed Civil War soldiers. The rashes, the pain, headaches, rheumatism, probably severe hypertension, all the other symptoms that she kept careful track of, can be traced back to that. There's some suggestion of lupus too. Ultimate cause of death was stroke. Anyway, like many Victorians, especially women, she suffered from a daunting array of aliments, yet, again, the vitality of her output astonishes.
Those are among the few I can readily remember! But if you, or anyone else, knows interesting biographical facts about your favorite writers, would enjoy hearing.
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