Back from the Dead and Taking Selfies: Classic Authors on Instagram

Posted by Kristen Humbert

With its insta-social, insta-vintage snapshot-sharing network, Instagram would be the ideal way to keep up with the lives of your favorite authors… if it weren’t so biased to authors who are still alive, that is.

Fortunately, with a little imagination (and Photoshop), we’ve whipped up some perfect pix to flesh out the feeds of a few dearly departed literary darlings.

HEMINGWAY: Whether he’s running with the bulls or partying in Havana, Hemingway’s photos always make you feel inadequate. You even went as far as unfollowing him, but you still search @hemingweight to secretly see what fabulous thing the jerk is up to now.
NABAKOV: Moths. Butterflies. And more moths. “Humbert Humbert” Nabakov is not. The author has an obsession with winged creatures, not seductive little girls. Makes you wonder what (not whom) Lolita really symbolized.
WOOLF: Our lady of perpetual sorrow loves the Willow filter. Also loves pairing forlorn selfies with emo song lyrics à la the Bright Eyes and Elliot Smith. A dying flower, a cloudy sky, and rain on her window are some of Woolf’s more recent subjects.
SALINGER: Even with thousands of followers, Salinger isn’t following a single person. And he only has those three photos from the same day he joined (same subject, different filters). Maybe it’s a picture of…no. Is it a…? …uh…hmm. Nope. No idea.
FITZGERALD: #RichKidsofInstagram just got a little more literary. Hanging out with @hemingweight in #Paris, #onaboat with the Vanderbilts, drinking with #VampireWeekend #backstage with Zelda. F. Scott is hashtag happy. De rigueur: #humblebrag.
Special thanks to Burlap & Denim for the Instagram templates. Follow Kristen on Twitter @ludakris10.