Suicide (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Its History, Literature, Jurisprudence, Causation, and PreventionBy William Wynn Westcott
Length5h 40m
About this audiobook
William Wynn Westcott's Suicide is a sober Victorian inquiry into self-destruction, treating the subject not as sensation but as a medico-legal, historical, and social problem. Combining documentary evidence, classical and modern literary reference, legal commentary, and contemporary medical reasoning, the work belongs to the nineteenth-century tradition of reformist forensic writing. Its prose is methodical, humane, and taxonomic, seeking to classify causes and circumstances while also testing inherited moral judgments against empirical observation. Westcott was unusually equipped for such a study. Trained as a physician and serving for many years as a London coroner, he encountered sudden and unexplained deaths at close range and understood the ambiguities surrounding intention, insanity, poverty, shame, and disease. Though later famous as a founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, his professional writings reveal a practical public-health mind shaped by medicine, law, statistics, and civic responsibility. This book is recommended to readers interested in the history of psychiatry, criminology, Victorian social reform, and the cultural meanings attached to suicide. It is especially valuable as a period document: not free from its age's assumptions, yet striking in its effort to replace condemnation with investigation, and to make prevention a matter of knowledge rather than rhetoric.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
GenreHealth and Wellness
Length5 hrs 40 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJul 17, 2021
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Suicide (Annotated)
2Introduction
3Synopsis
4Historical Context
5Chapter I. Introduction.
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter II. The History of Suicide.
7Chapter III. Notable Suicides.
8Chapter IV. Literature.
9Chapter V. Criminal Jurisprudence.
10Chapter VI. Civil Jurisprudence.
11Chapter VII. Present Suicide Rate and Increase.
12Chapter VIII. The Causation of Suicide.
13Chapter IX. Race, Geographical Influences, and Climate.
14Chapter X. Education, Religion, and Morals.
15Chapter XI. Urban and Rural Life; Employment; Army, Navy, and Prison Life.
16Chapter XII. Seasons and Times.
17Chapter XIII. Sex, Age, and Social State.
18Chapter XIV. Insanity in Relation to Suicide.
19Chapter XV. Epidemic Suicide; Suicide From Imitation, and Desire for Notoriety.
20Chapter XVI. Bodily Diseases; Insomnia, Spiritualism, Heredity, and Alcoholism.
21Chapter XVII. Tædium-vitæ, The Passions, Misery and Despair.
22Chapter XVIII. The Means of Suicide.
23Chapter XIX. Suicide and Crime Compared; and Attempted Suicide.
24Chapter XX. Suicide in British India.
25Chapter XXI. The Prevention of Suicide, and the Treatment of the Suicidal Tendency in the Insane.
26Chapter XXII. Suicide of Animals.
27Appendix. The Attitude of Assurance Companies to the Suicide.
28Analysis
29Reflection
30Memorable Quotes
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