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The Paradox of Suicide and Creativity

Authentications of Human Existence
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If creativity is the highest expression of the life impulse, why do creative individuals who have made lasting contributions to the arts and sciences so often end their lives? M.F. Alvarez addresses this central paradox by exploring the inner lives and works of eleven creative visionaries who succumbed to suicide. Through a series of case studies, Alvarez shows that creativity and suicide are both attempts to authenticate and resolve personal catastrophes that have called into question the most basic conditions of human existence.
Foreword Introduction Chapter 1: 'You Will Rescue Objects from Oblivion': The Case of Iris Chang Chapter 2: 'Haunted by the Vivid Memories of Killings': The Case of Kevin Carter Interlude I: Is Creativity Intrinsically Healing? Chapter 3: 'Give Me One Good Reason to Stay': The Case of Phyllis Hyman Chapter 4: 'A Dry Place to Call Their Home': The Case of Kurt Cobain Chapter 5: Individuation through Poetry and Death: The Case of Sylvia Plath Interlude II: Creativity and Temporality Chapter 6: 'The Soul We Have Loved, the Soul that Has Left Us': The Case of Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan Chapter 7: A Lifelong Project of Resurrection: The Case of Alan Turing Interlude III: Suicide as Authentication of the Self Chapter 8: Existence through Annihilation: The Case of Yukio Mishima Chapter 9: 'Beauty Is a Dissident Force': The Case of Reinaldo Arenas Chapter 10: The Drama of the Disintegrating Self: The Case of Robin Williams Interlude IV: The Medicalization of Life and Death Conclusion References
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