Citation

Caradonna JL. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 2010; 33(1): 23-36.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010)

DOI

10.1111/j.1754-0208.2009.00208.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article investigates the manner in which the French press of the late eighteenth century treated the suicides of Grub Street writers. The main argument is that the secularisation of suicide allowed for new attitudes toward self-inflicted death. One finds that the underground press callously mocked the suicides of hack writers. Secondarily, the article challenges the notion that suicide became 'medicalised' in the eighteenth century, and that contemporaries viewed it solely as an act of insanity. © 2009 British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; France; Paris; Secularisation; Grub Street; Medicalisation; The press