The Contemporary Writer and Their Suicide

Description

This volume is the continuation of the book Suicide in Modern Literature, edited by Josefa Ros Velasco. Considering the positive reception of this book, Ros Velasco launches the second part, entitled The Contemporary Writer and their Suicide. This time, leading representatives of various disciplines analyze the literary, philosophical, and biographical works of contemporary writers worldwide who attempted to commit suicide or achieved their goal, looking for covert and overt clues about their intentions in their writings. This book aims to continue shedding light on the social and structural causes that lead to suicide and on the suicidal mind, but also to show that people assiduous to writing usually reflect their intentions to commit suicide in their writings, to explain how these frequently veiled intentions can be revealed and interpreted, and to highlight the potential of artistic, philosophical, and autobiographical writing as a tool to detect suicidal ideation and prevent its consummation in vulnerable people. This book analyzes several case studies and their allusions to their contexts and the socio-structural and environmental violence and pressures they suffered, expressions of their will and agency, feelings of dislocation between the individual, reality, and existential alienation, and literary styles, writing techniques, and metaphorical language. Preface References Acknowledgments Contents List of Figures List of Tables About the Editor Contributors Part I: Suicide in Contemporary Writers Caused by Socio-Structural and Environmental Violence and Pressures Chapter 1: Beyond the Wertherian Motif of Suicide: The Unity of the Self in Karoline von Günderrode’s Death 1 Historical and Sociopolitical Context 2 Inspirations, Work, and Indications of Her Suicide References Chapter 2: “I Manage It”: Analyzing Tropes of Suicide in Sylvia Plath’s Writing References Chapter 3: Virginia Woolf’s Suicidal Character(s): Schizophrenia and the Rebellion Against the Body and the Self in Her Literary Works 1 Introduction 2 Mrs. Dalloway: Constructing and Conceptualizing Madness 3 Biopower, Necropower, and the Question of Agency in Suicide: Rhoda’s Case (The Waves) 4 Beyond the Reality-Fiction Dichotomy: Virginia Woolf’s Suicide Case and History 5 Conclusions References Chapter 4: “Death Beats in My Heart Everyday”: A Sociological Reading of Suicidal Intent in Sara Shagufta’s Works 1 Background of Sara Shagufta 2 Gender and Suicide 3 Invisibility of Suicide Narratives in South Asian Context 4 Islam’s Perception of Women and Suicide 5 Social, Political, and Cultural Setting of the Pakistan of Shagufta’s Times 6 Erasure of Sara Shagufta from the Canon of Urdu Women’s Poetry 7 Contextualizing Sara Shagufta 8 Conclusion References Chapter 5: Inside the Medical Suicidal Mind: Felipe Trigo’s Death by Suicide and Its Self-Novelization as a Way of Understanding Suicide in Contemporary Practitioners 1 Introduction: Understanding Suicide in the Medical Profession 2 Felipe Trigo’s El médico rural (1912): Another Doorway into the Medical Suicidal Mind 2.1 Life and Work of Felipe Trigo 2.2 Insights of Suicidal Behavior in Trigo’s Writings 2.3 Trigo’s Suicidal Mind and Other Deaths by Suicide in Spanish Fiction Medical Authors 3 Conclusions References Chapter 6: The Problem of Suicide in Kafka: An Ethical or Aesthetical Problem? 1 Introduction 2 Suicide in Kafka’s Age: Only an Ethical Problem? 2.1 Durkheim’s Theoretical Frame to Classify the Types of Suicide 2.2 Which Kind of Suicide Did Kafka Think About? 3 Kafka’s Aesthetical Reasons for Thinking About Committing Suicide 4 Contradiction Between the Ethical and Aesthetical Points of View 5 Conclusions References Chapter 7: The Tragedy of Vladimir Mayakovsky: Suicide as a Dialectical Dilemma 1 Introduction 2 Unrequited Love as a Master-Slave Dialectic 3 Revelation Through Revolution: A Work Toward Freedom? 4 In Conclusion: Not with a Whimper But a Bang References Chapter 8: Paul Celan: The Abyss of the Word “Forgiveness” 1 Introduction 2 A Room Near the Seine 3 A Silent Dialogue in Todtnauberg 4 There Where the Horror 5 Philosopher’s Answer 6 The Reason for Silence 7 The Silence of Reason 8 Above Good and Evil, Above Pain 9 In Conclusion References Chapter 9: “Lines of Flight”: The Deterritorialization of Gilles Deleuze 1 Lines of Flight 2 Building Intensity and Deterritorializing the Interior References Part II: Suicide in Contemporary Writers as an Expression of the Will, the Dislocation Between the Individual and the Reality, and Existential Alienation Chapter 10: The Ontological Suicide of Philipp Mainländer: A Search for Redemption Through Nothingness 1 Introduction 2 Mainländer’s Philosophy and His Consideration of Suicide 3 The Philosopher Behind the System: Biographical and Literary Approach to Mainländer’s Suicide References Chapter 11: Simone Weil, Martyr or Suicidal? Between Martyrdom and Suicide: The Question of the Meaning of Life and Death 1 Introduction: Simone Weil’s Choice of Life and the Conditions of Her Death 2 Suicide and Martyrdom: Where the Gaze Is Placed 3 Simone Weil as a Martyr: The Commitment with the Afflicted and the Concept of Decreation References Chapter 12: The Fall of a Legend: Deleuze’s Suicide and His Spinoza 1 Introduction and Preliminary Matters 2 Playing Detective with Deleuze and His Work 3 Two Interpretations of a Paradox 4 Conclusions: The Aphorism of Life References Chapter 13: Is Suicide a Choice? Suicide and Sophie’s Choice in William Styron 1 To Choose for Oneself 2 Insights from Darkness Visible (1990) 3 Insights from Sophie’s Choice (1979) References Chapter 14: Mortality and Meaninglessness: Leo Tolstoy and Mickey Sachs Reconsidered 1 Leo Tolstoy 1.1 Success 1.2 Crisis 1.3 Thoughts of Suicide 1.4 Search for Meaning 1.5 Faith? 2 Woody Allen 2.1 Success 2.2 Crisis 2.3 Thoughts of Suicide 2.4 Search for Meaning 2.5 Faith? 2.6 Answers? 3 Tolstoy Reconsidered 3.1 Faith? References Chapter 15: Carlo Michelstaedter and the Philosophical Suicide 1 Introduction 2 Biographical Notes 3 The Ideal Ego and the Ego Ideal in the Ultimate Theory of Carlo Michelstaedter References Chapter 16: Two-Gun Bob on the Pyre: Robert E. Howard’s Suicide in the Context of His Life and Work 1 Introduction 2 Texas and Early Fiction Period 3 Interim and Historical Fiction Period 4 Weird Tales and Adventure Fantasy Fiction Period 5 Conclusions References Chapter 17: The Confusing Anxiety of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa 1 A Different Kind of Japanese 2 Religion, Aesthetics, and Suicide 3 Last Works 4 The Farewell References Chapter 18: Through the Mask. Behind Osamu Dazai’s Smile References Chapter 19: The Catastrophe of the Self: The Case of Unica Zürn 1 Biography 2 Hallucination as a Miracle: The Linguistic Dwelling 3 The Literalness of the Sign 4 Anagrammatic Writing 5 Identity and Suicide References Part III: Suicide in Contemporary Writers Understood Through Their Literary Styles, Their Writing Techniques, and Their Metaphorical Language Chapter 20: Sylvia Plath: Suicidal Tendencies in Life, Poems, and Fiction 1 Introduction 2 Sylvia’s Life in Brief 2.1 Early Life in America 2.2 Life in England 2.3 Thoughts on Sylvia’s Life 3 Sylvia Plath’s Poems 3.1 Research on Sylvia’s Poems 4 The Bell Jar 5 Other Studies of Sylvia’s Suicide 6 Discussion References Chapter 21: Dying Is an Art: Death in the Art of Sylvia Plath 1 The Myth of Sisyphus 2 The Bell Jar 3 Ariel 4 The Savage God: A Study of Suicide References Chapter 22: One Wrist, Then the Other Wrist: The Mind Style of a Suicidal Protagonist as Portrayed in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar References Chapter 23: Reflection of Suicidal Tendencies in Poetry: A Computational Analysis of Gender-Themed Versus General-Themed Poetry by Cesare Pavese, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath 1 Literature Review 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Depression Disorder 1.3 Anne Sexton 1.4 Sylvia Plath 1.5 Cesare Pavese 1.6 Conclusion 2 Method 2.1 Computational Analysis Software 2.2 Poet Selection 2.3 Poem Selection 2.4 Questions 3 Results 3.1 Affective Processes 3.2 Social Processes 3.3 Cognitive Processes 3.4 Perceptual Processes 3.5 Biological Processes 4 Discussion 5 Conclusion References Chapter 24: Black and Blue: Revealing Suicidality in the Poetry of the Afro-German Writer-Activist, May Ayim 1 An Empirical Analysis of Ayim’s Suicidality Through Her Poetry 2 Phase I: External Changes in the Number and Format of Ayim’s Poetry 3 Phase II: Internal Changes in the Composition of Ayim’s Poetry 4 Conclusion References Chapter 25: Words in Poetry: Early and Late Poems by Haizi 1 Too Early an Ending 2 About the Poet 3 Earliest and Latest Poetic Production 4 About Haizi’s First and Last Poems 5 Some Remarks to Conclude References Chapter 26: Being Suicidal After Birth: Recoveries of Brooke Shields in Down Came the Rain, Elif Şafak in Siyah Süt (Black Milk), and Fuani Marino in Svegliami a Mezzanotte (Wake Me Up in the Midnight) from Ecolinguistic Perspectives 1 Introduction 2 Theoretical Framework: Ecolinguistics 3 Ecolinguistics for Revealing Natural Cures 3.1 Appreciating Ecological Events 3.2 Adopting Animals 3.3 Noticing the Beauty of Plants 3.4 Respecting Works of Art 3.5 Eating Healthy Food 4 Conclusion References Index