Using the untimely death of the poet and friend, Sylvia Plath, as a point of departure, Al Alvarez confronts the controversial and often taboo area of human behaviour: suicide. "The Savage God" explores the cultural attitudes, theories, truths and fallacies surrounding suicide and refracts them through the windows of philosophy, art and literature: following the black thread leading from Dante, through Donne, Chatterton and the Romantic Agony, to Dada and Pavese. Entwined within this sensitive study is the author's deeply ...
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Using the untimely death of the poet and friend, Sylvia Plath, as a point of departure, Al Alvarez confronts the controversial and often taboo area of human behaviour: suicide. "The Savage God" explores the cultural attitudes, theories, truths and fallacies surrounding suicide and refracts them through the windows of philosophy, art and literature: following the black thread leading from Dante, through Donne, Chatterton and the Romantic Agony, to Dada and Pavese. Entwined within this sensitive study is the author's deeply personal account of his own unsuccessful suicide attempt, and together they form the most fascinating and compelling meditation on the "Savage God" at the heart of human existence.
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Add this copy of The Savage God: a Study of Suicide, to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1972 by Random House (NY).
Add this copy of The Savage God: a Study of Suicide to cart. $3.80, fair condition, Sold by Blue Vase Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Interlochen, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by W. W. Norton & Company.
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Fair. The item is very worn but continues to work perfectly. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing (age related spots and browning). May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.
Add this copy of The Savage God: a Study of Suicide to cart. $3.81, good condition, Sold by Solr Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Skokie, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by W. W. Norton & Company.
Add this copy of The Savage God: a Study of Suicide to cart. $4.54, very good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by W. W. Norton & Company.
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Add this copy of Savage God a Study of Suicide to cart. $5.00, good condition, Sold by Becker's Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Houston, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1982 by Bantam Books.
Add this copy of The Savage God: a Study of Suicide to cart. $5.59, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by W. W. Norton & Company.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Savage God to cart. $5.81, very good condition, Sold by agoodealofbooks rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from ypsilanti, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1972 by Random House.
Add this copy of The Savage God: a Study of Suicide, to cart. $6.37, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1972 by Random House (NY).
Add this copy of The Savage God: a Study of Suicide, to cart. $6.37, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1972 by Random House (NY).
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This is an excellent study of suicide and talk about suicide from very early days (the Greeks and Romans) until today. It has an especially insightful study of Sylvia Plath's suicide at the beginning. Alvarez believes her suicide was a cry for help gone wrong. Indeed, he tends to think that suicide is, largely, an act of desperation, and not something done with good reason. I think he limits suicide too much to such contexts. He misunderstands the place that suicide plays in the life story of many people, for whom it comes as a blessed release from suffering or the prospect of greater suffering. It is, nonetheless, a necessary book on the shelves of anyone wanting to know about suicide. He has some very interesting details, many taken from John Donne's "Biathanatos", of suicide in the ancient (especially the Roman) world. Well worth reading. It is also a wonderfully expressive book, written by a poet, so its ability to evoke time and place and mood in striking ways is an added bonus in a book on such an apparently morbid subject.
