Excerpts
Suicide
David Carradine hanged himself in a hotel in Bangkok. He was seventy-two. (It now appears it may have been a sex act gone wrong- click here to read the update.) After the jump, Anna Karenina also ends her life, although by a different method. In the comment section, bring on other great scenes from literature that illustrate a suicide. (Heart of the Matter comes to mind and my all time favorite, Madame Bovary. ) (This is not meant to be a celebration, but a contemplation, so you all know where I’m coming from…)
She tried to fling herself below the wheels of the first carriage as it reached her; but the red bag which she tried to drop out of her hand delayed her, and she was too late; she missed the moment. She had to wait for the next carriage. A feeling such as she had known when about to take the first plunge in bathing came upon her, and she crossed herself. That familiar gesture brought back into her soul a whole series of girlish and childish memories, and suddenly the darkness that had covered everything for her was torn apart, and life rose up before her eyes for an instant with all its bright past joys. But she did not take her eyes from the wheel of the second carriage. And exactly at the moment when the space between the wheels came opposite her, she dropped the red bag, and drawing her head back into her shoulders, fell on her hands under the carriage, and lightly, as though she would rise again at once, dropped on to her knees. And at the same instance she was terror-stricken at what she was doing. “Where am I? What am I doing? What for?” She tried to get up, to drop backwards; but something huge and merciless struck her on the head and rolled her on her back. “Lord forgive me all!” she said, feeling it impossible to struggle. A peasant muttering something was working at the iron above her. And the light by which she had read the book filled with troubles, falsehoods, sorrow and evil, flared up more brightly than ever before, lighted up for her all that had been in darkness, flickered, began to grow dim, and was quenched forever.
Tags: anna karenina, David Carradine
my dad was a big Kung Fu fan.
sorry, that didn’t follow the guidelines at all.
my dad was a big Kung Fu fan.
sorry, that didn’t follow the guidelines at all.
that’s cool. they were not like “it’s against the law to comment normally” guidelines
just curious if anyone has knoweldge of other suicide scenes in lit-
I liked the Kill Bill movies…it’s sad no matter who it is…
agreed on all counts. i have been trying to recall any scenes. i know i’ve read plenty, but can’t grasp them.
i was told as an undergrad that we weren’t allowed to write suicides. this was after i turned in a story with one.
(also, kill bill was the shiz, i can’t wait for inglorious basterds)
agreed on all counts. i have been trying to recall any scenes. i know i’ve read plenty, but can’t grasp them.
i was told as an undergrad that we weren’t allowed to write suicides. this was after i turned in a story with one.
(also, kill bill was the shiz, i can’t wait for inglorious basterds)
well, an obvious one would be Chopin’s The Awakening. In the same vein, also The House of Mirth by Wharton.
well, an obvious one would be Chopin’s The Awakening. In the same vein, also The House of Mirth by Wharton.
Lawrence Braithwaite.
Lawrence Braithwaite.
Good ones. I like Wharton a lot.
But I forget the actual scene (read it over a decade ago..although I think I saw some movie version more recently)- does she od on laudalon? And is it indeed a suicide? Or is it possibly an accident? I can’t remember.
hanged. not hung.
hanged. not hung.
quentin compson in ‘the sound and the fury’
not sure if there is actually a scene of him killing himself but he does at some point.
quentin compson in ‘the sound and the fury’
not sure if there is actually a scene of him killing himself but he does at some point.
thanks
Good one- Again, read that so long ago I can’t remember. I am looking for actual scenes–it’s a tricky thing to pull off well.
I say speak American, or at least your own language, not (god help us!) the King’s fucking English.
Stay with “hung,” I say. Besides, you don’t want “hanged” because it’ll rhyme with “Bang”-Cock.
“hung” with “was” sounds much better. To this ear in the least.
The most recent suicide I’ve been “hung” by was one Jonathan Bender in Michael Kimball’s DEAR EVERYBODY.
I also can’t help but remember Peter Handke’s mother in A SORROW BEYOND DREAMS.
I say speak American, or at least your own language, not (god help us!) the King’s fucking English.
Stay with “hung,” I say. Besides, you don’t want “hanged” because it’ll rhyme with “Bang”-Cock.
“hung” with “was” sounds much better. To this ear in the least.
The most recent suicide I’ve been “hung” by was one Jonathan Bender in Michael Kimball’s DEAR EVERYBODY.
I also can’t help but remember Peter Handke’s mother in A SORROW BEYOND DREAMS.
i’d argue that edna pontellier didn’t kill herself, that she actually found a way to, no matter how briefly, live free from patriarchal rule, that did consequently lead to her death, which then becomes a metaphor for the inability to escape the patriarchy ever really, just kidding not really
oh, ‘a perfect day for banana fish’ is one of my favorite short stories
i’d argue that edna pontellier didn’t kill herself, that she actually found a way to, no matter how briefly, live free from patriarchal rule, that did consequently lead to her death, which then becomes a metaphor for the inability to escape the patriarchy ever really, just kidding not really
oh, ‘a perfect day for banana fish’ is one of my favorite short stories
haha-
well, yahoo used “hanged” so I’ll just stick with it.
I’m very insecure about grammar and spelling and shit like that….I still fear the word “ain’t” is going to come slipping out of my mouth when I’m with people who answer, “I’m well” when you ask them how are you (instead of “I’m good”, which still comes out of my mouth, fuck it…)
Yeah, that Handke book- i wrote about it here, it’s non-fiction though…but what a great book.
Yes to the Kimball.
I read the awakening 22 years ago. I think I liked it- I liked it for sure. Then I tried to read something else by Chopin and I didn’t like it.
Some Woolf character does herself in, no? I can’t remember anything.
And yes- a perfect day for banana fish. But does it happen off scene…?
in Dalloway, crazy Septimus does himself in, while Mrs. Dalloway herself toys w/the idea, but “chooses life,” as I recall. There might be a female suicide in another of her novels.
Thomas Bernhard has suicide backward and forward; maybe I’ll try to pull a quote out of The Loser or Gathering Evidence later.
in Dalloway, crazy Septimus does himself in, while Mrs. Dalloway herself toys w/the idea, but “chooses life,” as I recall. There might be a female suicide in another of her novels.
Thomas Bernhard has suicide backward and forward; maybe I’ll try to pull a quote out of The Loser or Gathering Evidence later.
I have to finish the Loser – I’ve started it twice.
off scene? he shoots himself in the head at the end.
off scene? he shoots himself in the head at the end.
in watermelon sugar has a suicide.
in watermelon sugar has a suicide.
actually, more than one. brautigan had suicide always in his head i think.
actually, more than one. brautigan had suicide always in his head i think.
Carradine wasn’t a suicide, apparently.
Carradine wasn’t a suicide, apparently.
“After the jump, Anna Karenina also ends her life”
:)
“After the jump, Anna Karenina also ends her life”
:)
三合會
KC wouldn’t go out that way.
I have read a lot of books about suicide. The better ones included ‘A History of Suicide’ by Georges Minois, and Geo Stone’s once controversial ‘Suicide and Attempted Suicide’.
Reading Donne’s ‘Devotions on Emergent Occasions’, one arrives at the ecstatic breath of suicidal temperance. Right now someone is weeping in my street. Beyond I can hear the voice of the man I hear every night on Broadway, saying ‘I love you, I love you, Jesus, Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!’
“Any one of my creatures, my thoughts, is with the sun, and beyond the sun, overtakes the sun, and overgoes the sun in one pace, one step, everywhere.”
三合會
KC wouldn’t go out that way.
I have read a lot of books about suicide. The better ones included ‘A History of Suicide’ by Georges Minois, and Geo Stone’s once controversial ‘Suicide and Attempted Suicide’.
Reading Donne’s ‘Devotions on Emergent Occasions’, one arrives at the ecstatic breath of suicidal temperance. Right now someone is weeping in my street. Beyond I can hear the voice of the man I hear every night on Broadway, saying ‘I love you, I love you, Jesus, Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!’
“Any one of my creatures, my thoughts, is with the sun, and beyond the sun, overtakes the sun, and overgoes the sun in one pace, one step, everywhere.”
To add: ‘Impossible Vacation’ by Spalding Gray.
To add: ‘Impossible Vacation’ by Spalding Gray.
really? my bad. what news did I miss. I will rewrite this post if I got it wrong.
initially they said it was, but there’s been a report that he died in a sex-act gone wrong
initially they said it was, but there’s been a report that he died in a sex-act gone wrong
Oh. I’ll need to read more about it. 72 yr old sex act gone wrong? God bless him.
pr,
http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0818207/
pr,
http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0818207/
Saying Carradine’s death wasn’t a suicide but accidental is like saying James Incandenza’s suicide was accidental:
‘As we later reconstructed the scene, he’d used a wide-bit drill and small hacksaw to make a head-sized hole in the oven door, then when he’d gotten his head in he’d carefully packed the extra space around his neck with aluminum foil.’
‘Sounds kind of ad hoc and jerry-rigged and haphazard.’
‘Everybody’s a critic. This wasn’t an aesthetic endeavor.’
‘…’
‘And there was a large and half-full bottle of Wild Turkey found on the counter not far away, with a large red decorative giftwrappish bow on the neck.’
‘On the bottle’s neck, you mean.’
A little later:
‘Or have you for example, say, ever like baked a potato in a microwave oven? Did you know you have to cut the potato open before you turn the oven on? Do you know why that is?’
‘Jesus.’
‘The B.P.D. field pathologist said the build-up of internal pressures would have been almost instantaneous and equivalent in kg.s.cm to over two sticks of TNT.’
‘Jesus Christ, Hallie.’
‘Hence the need to reconstruct the scene.’
Otherwise I’m thinking Werther, Holloway Roberts….
Saying Carradine’s death wasn’t a suicide but accidental is like saying James Incandenza’s suicide was accidental:
‘As we later reconstructed the scene, he’d used a wide-bit drill and small hacksaw to make a head-sized hole in the oven door, then when he’d gotten his head in he’d carefully packed the extra space around his neck with aluminum foil.’
‘Sounds kind of ad hoc and jerry-rigged and haphazard.’
‘Everybody’s a critic. This wasn’t an aesthetic endeavor.’
‘…’
‘And there was a large and half-full bottle of Wild Turkey found on the counter not far away, with a large red decorative giftwrappish bow on the neck.’
‘On the bottle’s neck, you mean.’
A little later:
‘Or have you for example, say, ever like baked a potato in a microwave oven? Did you know you have to cut the potato open before you turn the oven on? Do you know why that is?’
‘Jesus.’
‘The B.P.D. field pathologist said the build-up of internal pressures would have been almost instantaneous and equivalent in kg.s.cm to over two sticks of TNT.’
‘Jesus Christ, Hallie.’
‘Hence the need to reconstruct the scene.’
Otherwise I’m thinking Werther, Holloway Roberts….
Unless he was autoasphyxiating.
Unless he was autoasphyxiating.
He was.
He was.
Isaac beat me to James Incandenza… which is poignant because my housemate and I were having a James Incandenza memorial celebration involving much wild turkey (November Something, 1996) when I got the fateful booty call that led to my present state of marital bliss.
Isaac beat me to James Incandenza… which is poignant because my housemate and I were having a James Incandenza memorial celebration involving much wild turkey (November Something, 1996) when I got the fateful booty call that led to my present state of marital bliss.
Thanks Ryan, I’ll update now.
fateful boot call and marital bliss in the same sentence makes me really happy.
James Incandenza- I have never picked up Infinite Jest, but I just googled him and read a bit about it….
Maybe I should give it a try.
Tennis Academy! I love DFW’s non-fiction on tennis.
Hm.
Thanks people.
Unintentional pun. ha!
pr,
i think the list of actual author suicides is much more interesting to me than suicide scenes in literature.
have you ever noticed the large amount of writer suicides compared to say film or photography or paint or whatever?
pr,
i think the list of actual author suicides is much more interesting to me than suicide scenes in literature.
have you ever noticed the large amount of writer suicides compared to say film or photography or paint or whatever?
http://infinitesummer.org
You won’t regret it.
http://infinitesummer.org
You won’t regret it.
off the top of my head…
Hemingway
Hunter Thompson
Frank Stanford
Breece D’J Pancake
Mishima
Woolf
Brautigan
John Berryman
etc. etc.
probably has something to do with the toll it takes confronting death so frequently and with such intensity and focus in their writing, i don’t know. like they spend more time ‘in their heads’ than musicians and painters, who create their art in way that’s more from ‘outside themselves.’
off the top of my head…
Hemingway
Hunter Thompson
Frank Stanford
Breece D’J Pancake
Mishima
Woolf
Brautigan
John Berryman
etc. etc.
probably has something to do with the toll it takes confronting death so frequently and with such intensity and focus in their writing, i don’t know. like they spend more time ‘in their heads’ than musicians and painters, who create their art in way that’s more from ‘outside themselves.’
good point.
good point.
Hedda Gabler.
Hedda Gabler.