It’s not easy to break up with someone. Whether it is because you don’t like their attitude, you’ve fallen out of love with them, or you’ve noticed an unspeakable habit about them you can’t get past, we don’t like hurting the people we care about. Of course, some of these breakups need to happen, but we can afford to be gentle. That being said, we are writers, and in another article I’ve written, we tend to gravitate towards some psychopathic tendencies. As such, below are some instances where famous authors have had to break up with their significant others. 

Simone de Beauvoir 

Simone de Beauvoir had been in a long distance relationship with a man named Algren. Eventually, she noticed how withdrawn Algren had become, and as such, decided the best way to end things was in a flowery letter. In this letter, she describes how withered her heart is, and how she feels it’d be better for them to separate, though she wishes they meet again in the future. She even says his friendship and tenderness were precious to her, and that she was sorry to see it go. Even so, she breaks it off cleanly with him, asking him to allow her to be independent, despite the heartbreak attached to it. Of course, it means they probably weren’t getting back together, but at the very least, she was nice about it.

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was romantically involved with a man named Alfred Douglas. However, when Douglas essentially abandoned Wilde in prison, Wilde was inspired to write a letter to his former lover about how he ruined his life the moment he met him, and how bittersweet their past romance was. In other words, Wilde was, at the very least, hoping that the memory of him would ruin some part of Douglas’s life. It’s important to note that the reason why Wilde was in prison to begin with was the “gross indecency” of his letters, though that didn’t stop him from writing more. It’s clear from his own breakup letter alone that the pair had issues, and though it was better for the two to stay apart, they still got back together after Wilde was released.

Karl Marx

The prime architect of the idealistic version of communism, Marx had the audacity to complain about his sex life towards his partner, even after his rash disappeared. He later called the relationship a bourgeois invention, and promptly separated from his former beloved.

René Descartes

Yet another famous figure in the philosophical world, Descartes broke up with a woman simply because he thought she was dumber than him. In essence, he described his own mind like a tree, forever extending his knowledge with his branches, while she was like a shrub, limited by her dull thoughts and conventional wisdom. It’s a rather mean-spirited letter, but in essence a funny one, nonetheless. He even had the gall to tell her he was drunk when he was writing the letter. 

Of course, these letters have later been released to the internet for all to enjoy. Even so, there’s still a certain beauty within the language they use, however whimsical the meaning may be. Perhaps next time, when you’re thinking about breaking up with your partner, you could take a page from these authors, and use your literary talents to let them down gently.