The Art of Suicide is a history of the visual representation of suicide from the ancient world to its decriminalization in the twentieth century. After looking at instances of voluntary death in ancient Greece; Ron Brown discusses the contrast between the extraordinary absence of such events in early Christianity and the proliferation of images of biblical suicides in the late medieval era. He emphasizes how differing attitudes to suicide in the early modern world slowly merged; and pays particular attention to the one-time chasm between so-called heroic suicide and self-destruction as a crying crime.Brown tracks the changes surrounding the perception of suicide into the pivotal Romantic era; with its notions of the man of feeling; ready to hurl himself into the abyss over a woman or an unfinishable poem. After the First World War; the meaning of death and attitudes towards suicide changed radically; and in time this led to its decriminalization. The 20th century in fact witnessed a growing ambivalence towards suicidal acts; which today are widely regarded either as expressions of a death-wish or as cries for help. Brown concludes with Warhols picture of Marilyn Monroe and the videos taken by the notorious Dr Kevorkian.
#2626997 in eBooks 2006-11-27 2006-11-27File Name: B00DBURJTQ
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Heywoods masterpieceBy Martin LeblHeywood was a very prolific contemporary of Shakespeare. This play is one of his best; and is quite often revived for performance over in the British Isles. It is an intriguing story of love; friendship; hate; disloyalty; and treachery. Heywood skillfully walks us through the emotions; and there are few surprises lurking in the text; as not everything happens as we expect; and the price of honor turns out to be high; but not higher then of love. As is the custom of Elizabethean drama we have a main plot; and we also have a subplot; which serves to highlight the main plot. These two are complimentary; and highlight each others failings very nicely. When characters of the main plot make the wrong choices; the sub plot shows us the right choice in a similar situation; and thus the play is doubly effective. Highly recommended to see that there were other great playwrights besides Shakespeare in the Elizabethean drama; and that they are only unknown today; because Shakespeare was such a giant; that he overshadows; even very competent writers; who would have shinned brightly in any other period.