By Karla Accorto
Summer 2017 Intern
While authors like Agatha Christie and
Stephen King have published dozens of novels, others are known for their
publication of a single novel.
Emily Brontë, for
example, only published Wuthering Heights,
and it wasn’t well received until after her death. Critics either judged it
very harshly or were unsure how to react to her dramatic romance. Whether Brontë
ever intended to publish another book is unknown—she died of tuberculosis
before she had the chance.
Gone
With the Wind author Margaret
Mitchell may have been discouraged from publishing again after the great
media attention her first novel garnered. While initially a willing participant,
Mitchell eventually stopped partaking in interviews and signing autographs, citing
poor health. Ultimately, World War II broke out, and she turned to volunteering
for the Red Cross.
J. D. Salinger
also found himself disliking the spotlight after the publication of The Catcher in the Rye. He was always a
private person and did not enjoy the attention gained by his novel. Fame and
public scrutiny made him a recluse, and though he published some stories and
novellas, he never published another novel.
For some authors, the success of
one novel appeared to be too much, discouraging them from publishing a second.
For others like Brontë, however, we will never know what might have been.
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