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Suicide according to Zola
Citation
Pridmore, W and Pridmore, S, Suicide according to Zola, Dynamics of Human Health, 5, (1) ISSN 2382-1019 (2018) [Contribution to Refereed Journal]
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Abstract
Objective: To investigate the fiction of Emil Zola to understand the beliefs of the author and his readers (second half 19th-Century France) regarding the triggers of suicide.
Method: Four novels were examined: Térèse Raquin (1867), The Fortune of the Rougons (1871), Germinal (1885), and The Beast Within (1890).
Results: Five completed suicides were related, triggered in two instances by loss of a spouse and in three cases by guilt. Suicide (or related behaviour) was mentioned on more than 20 further occasions, all as a consequence of settings of discontent. There was no instance of suicide secondary to mental disorder.
Conclusion: Triggers of suicide in the second half 19th-Century France were not exclusively the result of mental disorder, at least in the opinion of Zola and his readers, and were not unlike those in the contemporary Western world.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Contribution to Refereed Journal |
|---|---|
| Research Division: | Medical and Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Public Health and Health Services |
| Research Field: | Mental Health |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) |
| Objective Field: | Mental Health |
| UTAS Author: | Pridmore, S (Professor Saxby Pridmore) |
| ID Code: | 124752 |
| Year Published: | 2018 |
| Deposited By: | Medicine |
| Deposited On: | 2018-03-07 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-03-07 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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