Research Catalog

The savage god : a study of suicide

Title
The savage god : a study of suicide / by A. Alvarez.
Author
Alvarez, A. (Alfred), 1929-2019.
Publication
  • New York : Random House, ©1972.
  • ©1972

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Book/TextSupervised use ReCAP 24-4976Offsite
Book/TextRequest in advance JLD 73-1884Offsite

Details

Additional Authors
Dedalus Foundation, donor NN
Description
xviii, 299 pages; 22 cm
Summary
This book explores suicide as it has never been described before. It is a deep compassionate insight into the realm of self-destruction from a personal, literary, and existential point of view. The author dispels the preconception that suicide is either a terrifying aberration or something to be ignored altogether. He documents and explores historically man's changing attitudes toward suicide: from the various primitive societies, the Greek and Roman cultures, to the development of the suicidal martyrdom of the early Christian church, the later concept of suicide as a mortal sin to be savagely punished, and the counterrevolutionary attitude of the late nineteenth century which shifted the responsibility of suicide from the individual to society. He continues with a discussion of the theories which have been developed about suicide. From there, he explores the minds and emotional states of Dante, Cowper, Donne, Chatterton, and others, explaining the death trend in their works. He sees revealed in literature the voyage of the suicide in past centuries and today. He returns to a personal view of suicide at the close of the book as he chronicles his attempt on his own life. He brings the reader through a journey where one sees the act of suicide as the end of a long experience, an emptiness so isolated and violent--making life into such a paper-thin reality--that it surrenders.--
Alternative Title
Study of suicide
Subjects
Note
  • Originally published: London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ©1971.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-294) and index.
Source (note)
  • of the Dedalus Foundation;
Contents
Prologue : Sylvia Plath -- Part 2. The background -- Part 3. The closed world of suicide : fallacies -- Theories -- Feelings -- Part 4. Suicide and literature : Dante and the Middle Ages -- John Donne and the Renaissance -- William Cowper, Thomas Chatterton and the age of reason -- The romantic agony -- Tomorrow's zero : the transition to the twentieth century -- Dada : suicide as an art -- The savage God -- Part 5. Letting go.
Call Number
ReCAP 24-4976
ISBN
  • 9780394474519
  • 0394474511
LCCN
70117703
OCLC
308499
Author
Alvarez, A. (Alfred), 1929-2019.
Title
The savage god : a study of suicide / by A. Alvarez.
Publisher
New York : Random House, ©1972.
Copyright Date
©1972
Edition
First American edition.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-294) and index.
Local Note
Copy in ReCAP 24-4976 inscribed.
Source
Gift; of the Dedalus Foundation; 2024. NN
Added Author
Dedalus Foundation, donor NN
Other Form:
Online version: Alvarez, A. (Alfred), 1929-2019. Savage god. [1st American ed.]. New York, Random House [1972] (OCoLC)652339791
Research Call Number
ReCAP 24-4976
JLD 73-1884
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