crying and frying

[j minnich]

>I'm planning a seminar next term on death, mourning and suicide in
>literature.  Someone mentioned Werther--any other suggestions?  I
>thought maybe Hamlet and Gerald's Party, inter alia. I'm not limited by
>genre, period or geography.  Diana 
>
How about Melville's _Pierre_?  Not precisely suicide, but certainly a path
of self-chosen descent into death, and just possibly IMHO a parody of Goethe
novels like _Elective Affinities_ or Wilhelm Meister_.  One of Melville's
darkest novels, too, I think.               -j minnich
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"If a drunkard in a sober fit is the dullest of mortals, an enthusiast in a
reason-fit is not the most lively."   
      -H. Melville, _The Confidence Man_