国产av不卡一区二区_欧美xxxx做受欧美_成年人看的毛片_亚洲第一天堂在线观看_亚洲午夜精品久久久中文影院av_8x8ⅹ国产精品一区二区二区_久久精品国产sm调教网站演员_亚洲av综合色区无码一二三区_成人免费激情视频_国产九九九视频

Poets die young: study
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-23 08:50

Poets die young — younger than novelists, playwrights and other writers, a U.S. researcher says.

Gu Cheng (1956-1993),  Chinese  epochmaking modern poem writer died at 37. [file photo]

It could be because poets are tortured and prone to self-destruction, or it could be that poets become famous young, so their early deaths are noticed, said James Kaufman of the Learning Research Institute at California State University at San Bernardino.

For the report, published in the Journal of Death Studies, Kaufman studied 1,987 dead writers from various centuries from the United States, China, Turkey and Eastern Europe. He classified the writers as fiction writers, poets, playwrights, and non-fiction writers. He did not study the causes of death.

"Among American, Chinese and Turkish writers, poets died significantly younger than non-fiction writers," Kaufman wrote in the report. "Among the entire sample, poets died younger than both fiction writers and non-fiction writers."

Because Kaufman studied some writers who lived hundreds of years ago, it is impossible to compare their average age of death to that of the general population.

"On average, poets lived 62 years, playwrights 63 years, novelists 66 years and non-fiction writers lived 68 years,"  Kaufman said in an interview conducted by e-mail.

Kaufman has also studied poets and mental illness.

"What I found was pretty consistent with the death finding actually, female poets were much more likely to suffer from mental illness (e.g., be hospitalized, commit suicide, attempt suicide) than any other kind of writer and more likely than other eminent women," he said.

"I've dubbed this the 'Sylvia Plath Effect.'"

Sylvia Plath was a poet and novelist who killed herself in 1963 at the age of 30.

There could also be a more benign explanation for poets’ early demise, Kaufman said. “Poets produce twice as much of their lifetime output in their twenties as novelists do,” he said.

So when a budding novelist dies young, few people may notice.

"A great novelist or non-fiction writer who dies at 28 may not have yet produced her or his magnum opus."

Kaufman said poets should not worry, but should perhaps look after their health.

"The fact that a Sylvia Plath ... may die young does not necessarily mean an Introduction to Poetry class should carry a warning that poems may be hazardous to one’s health," he said.

Close

Today's Top News     Top Life News
Beijing reports suspected SARS case, China on alert         Report: N. Korea train crash kills thousands         Bush vows to sticks to one-China policy         US urged to stop Taiwan arms sales         Alleged collegiate killer goes on trial         Milk found bad in dead infant case	Pop diva Faye Wong to show tonight in Kuala Lumpur       Poets die young: study       Cannes film festival to mix glamour, youth       University students say money's easy come, easy go       Artist finds self through East-West fusion       U.K. press outraged at dying Diana photos