Suicide Motives in 61 Works of Popular World Literature and Comparison to Film (IN: Suicide and the Creative Arts, edited by S Stack & D Lester)

Research is needed to ascertain cultural patterns in literature as a whole. The present study fills this gap & focuses on motives for suicide in a large number of popular literary works. 3 contributions are made: 1) the provision of the first systematic taxonomy of motives for suicide in a representative sample of popular literary fiction; 2) the provision of a taxonomy of motives in a sample of popular American feature films on suicide; & 3) an exploration of the similarities & differences in the presentation of motives for suicide between these two art forms. An appendix provides a list of literary classics containing suicides by author, title, character, & motive for suicide. (23 refs.)