“The Death of a Beautiful Woman”

Women’s Suicide by Drowning in 19th Century American Literature

Bibliographic Data

ID22154308
AuthorsAbigayle Anne Claggett (Texas Christian University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume5
Issue4
Pages1239-1248
Publication date2020-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2456-7620 • E-ISSN: 2456-7620
PublisherAI Publications (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.22161/ijels.54.60
OpenAlexW3082758503
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited8

Throughout the nineteenth century, there was a cultural interest in suicide, particularly suicidal methods that infiltrated every aspect of cultural production, from art to literature. This author seeks to provide a brief overview of nineteenth century suicidal ideation, methods of suicide, and instances of suicide in literature by looking specifically at portrayals of women's suicide by drowning in nineteenth century American literature. Rather than being a comprehensive examination, this article is intended to provide a foundation for future scholarly exploration: this particular topic is largely unstudied, especially in American literature, and so this article seeks to rectify that gap in scholarly knowledge. The author looks at works of literature written by women in an effort to draw conclusions about the significance of drowning as a method of women's suicide, and the implications of this action

American literature · Art · Injury prevention · Late 19th century · Literature · Medical emergency · Poison control · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Adventure Sports and Sensation Seeking · Demography · History · Injury Epidemiology and Prevention · Medicine

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Open DOIOpen Access