> From:         Jeff Berman
> Subject:      Re:      FW: The Werther Effect
>
> Dear Anne and Haifa,
>     In response to your question, Anne, about the number of readers who
> committed suicide as a result of reading Goethe's autobiographical novel
> Werther, different authors cite different figures.  In his Introduction to
> Werther (Bantam, 1962), Harry Steinhauer discusses this issue.  "Sentimental
> young people sported Werther's costume: blue coat and yellow trousers and
> vest; some lovelorn creatures followed his example and committed suicide
> with copies of the novel in their pockets" (24).
>
>     David Phillips coined the "Werther effect" and demonstrated in his 1974
> essay "The Influence of Suggestion on Suicide" that the suicide rate
> increases after the publication of suicide reports in newspapers.  Phillips
> estimates that celebrity suicide raise the suicide rate by an average of 1
> percent for about a month.  The reason that memorial services are not
> generally held in high school for students who have committed suicide is
> because of the fear of suggestion--of copycat suicides, which often occur in
> this situation.
>
>     The best response for an educator who wishes to discuss suicide with
> students is to be honest and open, discussing the terrible aftermath of
> suicide, and not romanticizing the act.  Most people attempt or commit
> suicide because of hopelessness, which is the best predictor of suicide.
>
>     Haifa, your statement that Plath's "choosing that dark path with poetry
> or without was for sure a reason behind killing herself" sounds a great deal
> like Alvarez's statement in The Savage God that she was an extemist poet,
> playing with fire.  But as I argue in Surviving Literary Suicide, if we
> listen to how writers have spoken about their art, then the conclusion is
> that for Woolf, Hemingway, Plath, and Sexton, writing was a very important
> part of their support system.  It kept them alive, gave them something to
> live for.  Almost certainly they would have been worse off had they not been
> able to write--and indeed, this is one of the reasons for Hemingway's
> suicide--the fear that he lost the ability to write.  Art is not always
> sufficient to maintain life, just as other "therapies" or support systems
> may not be 100 percent effective.  But far more often than not, writing is
> cathartic and should be encouraged.  Even dark writing.  It's when people
> stop writing that they become most vulnerable.
>
>     Happy Holidays!
>     Jeff Berman
>
>
>
>