'This Rash Act': Suicide Across the Life Cycle in the Victorian City

Victor Bailey

'This Rash Act': Suicide Across the Life Cycle in the Victorian City
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Stanford University Press
Country
United States
Published
1 September 2000
Pages
372
ISBN
9780804731249

‘This Rash Act’: Suicide Across the Life Cycle in the Victorian City

Victor Bailey

What made some 700 men and women in the Yorkshire town of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the years 1837 to 1900, decide to suffer no longer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and take their own lives? In this study, the author seeks to uncover the experiences that drove people to suicide; to analyze how suicide was understood by victims, by their families and friends, and by legal and medical authorities; to study how the presumed causes of suicide and the meanings of suicide changed over time and in response to changed social circumstances; and to see what suicide narratives elicited by coroners inquests can tell us about Victorian life, beliefs, and values in general. The book is based on an unprecedentedly complete and comprehensive collection of inquest files covering the entire Victorian era in Hull (most coroners files have not survived or exist only in fragmentary form). Hitherto, suicide in the Victorian period has been examined only on a national basis; where local evidence has been used, it has come chiefly from London. Through the testimony of relatives, neighbors, friends, and even the deceased (by means of suicide notes), the author has been able to get closer to the experience of suicide and its social construction than has been possible in any previous study.

This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in approx 2 weeks

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.