Discursive Constructions of the Suicidal Process

What is suicide? When does suicide start and when does it end? Who is involved? Examining narratives of suicide through a discourse analytic framework, Discursive Constructions of the Suicidal Process demonstrates how linguistic theories and methodologies can help answer these questions and cast light upon what suicide involves and means, both for those who commit an act and their loved ones.

Engaging in close analysis of suicide letters written before the act and post-hoc narratives from after the event, this book is the first qualitative study to view suicide not as a single event outside time, but as a time-extended process. Exploring how suicide is experienced and narrated from two temporal perspectives, Dariusz Galasinski and Justyna Ziolkowska introduce discourse analysis to the field of suicidology. Arguing that studying suicide narratives and the reality they represent can add significantly to our understanding of the process, and in particular its experiences and meanings, Discursive Constructions of the Suicidal Process demonstrates the value of discourse analytic insights in informing, enriching and contextualising our knowledge of suicide.