In the popular and scientific imagination, suicide has always been
an enigmatic act that defies, and yet demands, explanation.
Throughout the centuries, philosophers and writers, journalists and
scientists have attempted to endow this act with meaning. In the
nineteenth century, and especially in Russia, suicide became the
focus for discussion of such issues as the immortality of the soul,
free will and determinism, the physical and the spiritual, the
individual and the social. Analyzing a variety of sources --
medical reports, social treatises, legal codes, newspaper articles,
fiction, private documents left by suicides -- Irina Paperno
describes the search for the meaning of suicide.
Paperno focuses on Russia of the 1860s-1880s, when suicide was
at the center of public attention. Because Russian thought was
influenced by Western European models, she examines how Western
European science in the nineteenth century discussed suicide and
human action in general. Throughout her book, Paperno offers
glimpses of the men behind the interpretations, from Fyodor
DostoevsKy and the German pathologist Rudolf Virchow to the
anonymous journalists who reported suicides in Russian newspapers
and magazines.
General
Imprint: |
Cornell University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
February 1998 |
First published: |
February 1998 |
Authors: |
Irina Paperno
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 19mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
336 |
Edition: |
New |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8014-8425-4 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8014-8425-1 |
Barcode: |
9780801484254 |
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