It is fascinating to look at the dying words of men and women who have gained their fame from words. Chekhov died after downing a glass of champagne, which is not a bad way to go – his last words were “It is some time since I drank champagne” (I hope it was a fine vintage). His fellow Russian, Tolstoy, died asking how the peasants die, perhaps hoping to emulate them?
Robert Louis Stevenson, who was making a salad, suddenly clutched his head and asked “Do I look strange?”, before collapsing on his verandah; while James Joyce asked hopelessly “Does nobody understand?”. Byron was properly poetic when he died in Missolonghi: “Come, come, no weakness; let’s be a man to the last”, and Dr Samuel Johnson lapsed into Latin and stated “Iam moriturus” (I am who about to die). Henrik Ibsen, whose nurse had just told him he looked better, died insisting “On the contrary!”. American short story writer O. Henry ended his life with the request “Turn up the lights. I don’t want to go home in the dark”; Voltaire’s last words were to a priest – “Now my good man, this is no time for making enemies”; Goethe asked for “more light”; while J.M. Barrie complained “I can’t sleep” just before falling into his eternal slumber. “I must go in – the fog is rising” Emily Dickinson said at the end; Lewis Carroll ordered “Take away those pillows. I shall need them no more”; and I do like Lady Mary Wortley Montagu‘s final summary of her life: “It has all been most interesting”. Of course the best known literary last words are Oscar Wilde‘s “My wallpaper and I have been fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has got to go”.
It is one of my ambitions to stay in L’Hotel in Paris, where the room and wallpaper have both been considerably improved since Oscar’s last days there. His unpaid bill is framed and on display. The trouble is that they cannot be exactly certain which room he died in and it would prove an incredibly expensive business to sleep in every room so that I could state positively that I had slept in the exact room where Oscar died!
I really hope that my own last words will be “That was such a good book”, as I reach out to put down a finished book and to pick up a new one.
What would you like your dying words to be? Let me know in a comment.
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Susannah Fullerton: Henry James & Washington Square
Susannah Fullerton: What Maisie Knew by Henry James is published
Susannah Fullerton: Henry James’ birthday
Susannah Fullerton: Chekhov
Susannah Fullerton: Tolstory
Susannah Fullerton: R.L. Stevenson
Susannah Fullerton: James Joyce
Susannah Fullerton: Lord Byron
Susannah Fullerton: Dr Johnson
Susannah Fullerton: Henrik Ibsen
Susannah Fullerton: Voltaire
Susannah Fullerton: Goethe
Susannah Fullerton: J.M. Barrie
Susannah Fullerton: Emily Dickinson
Susannah Fullerton: Lewis Carroll
Susannah Fullerton: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Susannah Fullerton: Oscar Wilde
Felicity Pulman
Thank you for another fascinating newsletter. I particularly enjoyed your Winnie the Pooh memorial, and still quote some of the poems to my children and grandchildren. I also enjoyed the famous last words. And just to let you know, I’ve given copies of your wonderful book as gifts to several very grateful recipients (cat-lovers all) and we’ve all loved it.
Susannah Fullerton
Oh that’s so lovely to hear – thank you Felicity! The book is selling so well and I am now hard at work on a book about writers and their dogs.
Glad you enjoyed Winnie the Pooh. I often quote from the poems and stories too.
janet Cantor
I hope my dying words would be “I had so much fun.”
I am 88 years old and not at all ready to go. I am having a marvelous time still. I dance many times a week. I am enjoying my two great grandsons, who smile when they see me because they know I am funny.
Susannah Fullerton
Those are good dying words indeed!
Mary
Love all those famous last words; I think mine would be something like ‘thank you for the love I have been given’ ..very dull and unimaginative but there it is ..something to ponder when one awakes in the middle of the night.
Susannah Fullerton
We are all lucky if we have received love, so I think those thoughts or words are important. I hope I’d also think of the utter joy that books have also brought to my life, in last minutes when I knew there could be no more books.
Maria
What a fascinating line-up of famous last words. I have no idea what I’d like my final words to be but I do hope that I’ll still be able to speak when the time comes!
Susannah Fullerton
I think I’d like to die quietly in my sleep after finishing a really good book! But not for ages yet!