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.

About the Author

Irina Paperno is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. A graduate of Tartu University in the former Soviet Union, she holds advanced degrees in Slavic languages and literatures and in psychology from Stanford University. She is the author of Chernyshevsky and the Age of Realism: A Study in the Semiotics of Behavior.

Reviews

A comprehensive study.

* Choice *

This book will make an important contribution to nineteenth-century Russian studies. It is not for literary scholars alone; by examining suicide as a cultural institution, Paperno brings together the history of medicine, law, literature, and philosophy in a meaningful way.

* Slavic Review *

A pathbreaking book.... Paperno's research is impeccable, and the information amassed is invaluable.

* The Russian Review *

An exciting book. In it Paperno discusses ideas about the meaning of suicide from classical times to the late nineteenth century, when Russia was said to have experienced 'a epidemic of suicides.

-- A. S. Byatt * The Threepenny Review *

As a contribution to Doestoevskii studies, this book will be of primary importance.... Irina Paperno has written fruitful book.

* The Slavonic Review *

As Irina Paperno demonstrates in this fascinating look at Russian fiction, newspaper articles, suicide notes, and medical reports, the act of suicide in 19th century Russia became the source of discussions on immortality, religion, free will, and the relationship between the individual and society, among other topics.... Paperno concludes that suicide became a cultural artifact in 19th-century Russian and thus served as a symbol of the age.

* Virginia Quarterly Review *


Awards
Winner of Cowinner of the 1998 Heldt Prize (Association of W.



Book Information
ISBN 9780801484254
Author Irina Paperno
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Cornell University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 22mm