MARC Record from harvard_bibliographic_metadata

LEADER: 02837cam a2200313 4500
001 001114004-6
005 20020606090541.3
008 720418r1972 nyu 00110 eng
010 $a 70117703 //r83
020 $a0394474511
035 0 $aocm00308499
035 0 $aocm00308499$zocm00395298
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dm.c.
050 00 $aHV6545$b.A55 1972
060 4 $aHV 6545$bA473s 1972
100 1 $aAlvarez, A.$q(Alfred),$d1929-
245 14 $aThe savage god;$ba study of suicide,$cby A. Alvarez.
250 $a[1st American ed.]
260 0 $aNew York,$bRandom House$c[1972]
300 $axviii, 299 p.$c22 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 287-294) and index.
505 0 $aPrologue: Sylvia Plath -- pt. 2. The background -- pt. 3. The closed world of suicide: fallacies -- Theories -- Feelings -- pt. 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 centruy -- Dada: suicide as an art -- The savage God -- pt. 5. Letting go.
520 $aThis book explores suicide as it has never been described before. It is a deep compassionate insight into the realm of self-destruction from a personal, literary, and existential point of view. The author dispels the preconception that suicide is either a terrifying aberration or something to be ignored altogether. He documents and explores historically man's changing attitudes toward suicide: from the various primitive societies, the Greek and Roman cultures, to the development of the suicidal martyrdom of the early Christian church, the later concept of suicide as a mortal sin to be savagely punished, and the counterrevolutionary attitude of the late nineteenth century which shifted the responsibility of suicide from the individual to society. He continues with a discussion of the theories which have been developed about suicide. From there, he explores the minds and emotional states of Dante, Cowper, Donne, Chatterton, and others, explaining the death trend in their works. He sees revealed in literature the voyage of the suicide in past centuries and today. He returns to a personal view of suicide at the close of the book as he chronicles his attempt on his own life. He brings the reader through a journey where one sees the act of suicide as the end of a long experience, an emptiness so isolated and violent--making life into such a paper-thin reality--that it surrenders.--$cFrom publisher's description.
650 0 $aSuicide.
650 0 $aSuicide in literature.
650 2 $aSuicide.
776 08 $iOnline version:$aAlvarez, A. (Alfred), 1929-$tSavage god.$b[1st American ed.]$dNew York, Random House [1972]$w(OCoLC)652339791
988 $a20020608
906 $0DLC