On Suicide: Great Writers on the Ultimate Question

by John Miller (Editor), Genevieve Anderson (special assistance), Robert Coles (Introduction)

An anthology of insightful reflections on the concept of suicide includes passages from the poetry of Sylvia Plath, commentary by William Styron, a glimpse at the constructed literary despair of Madame Bovary, and other selections.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Psychology, Short Stories, Philosophy

269 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

John Miller has edited a number of intriguing anthologies for Chronicle Books, including Lust and White Rabbit. He runs Big Fish Books, a packaging company in San Francisco.

Reviews

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a book about dealing with suicide, it's stories and poems, essays and ideas. It's a theoretical book without theology or philosophy. I read it in high school, and it worried people - but it helped me to get through the death of two people in my life from suicide (12 years apart, they haunted me), as well as my own previous battles with suicide.

If you think you can handle it, try it.

[Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was thinking pretty seriously about killing myself for a while, but just ended up reading a bunch of books about depression and suicide instead. I feel way better nowadays.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A transcendent beauty this book is, preternaturally thought-provoking and able to shed a new light of reason on an act typically deemed selfish, immoral and pernicious in more ways than one. Whether or not you agree with the ideas presented in this anthology of suicidal ideations, the eloquence with which these timeless writers' concepts of self- destruction is presented is one which will undoubtedly remain with you long after you have flipped the final page.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has been a very long time since I read this (Caroline and I are unpacking a lot of books that we packed away quite some time ago tonight). I remember that this is the book that introduced me to Walker Percy. For that alone, it probably deserves four stars. One of the better books on suicide that I read when I was younger and more obsessed with the subject.

[Afshad Dholakia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book can bring different value to different readers. It has a variety of different selections, ranging from prose and poetry to sociological and historical studies of suicide.

Depending on what the reader is trying to gain from reading the book, parts of it can drag on a bit; I didn't find myself particularly intrigued by some of the literary pieces but found great interest in the excerpts from Al Alvarez and Emile Durkheim's works.

[Xio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has its moments.