Facing Down the Furies: Suicide, the Ancient Greeks, and Me

Sophocles tragedy Oedipus the Tyrant explores the psychological damage of suicide and offers solace to those who are contemplating suicide. Edith Hall, who has experienced loss in her own life, traces the philosophical arguments on suicide and relates them to the ancient Greek idea of a family curse. She draws parallels between characters from Greek tragedy and her own relatives, including her great-grandfather, whose life and death bore similar motivations to Sophocles Ajax. Hall argues that the wisdom and solace found in the ancient tragedies can help one choose survival over painful adversity and offer comfort to those who are tragically bereaved.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 14 May 2024
Publisher: Yale University Press

  An award-winning classicist, Edith Hall, turns to Greek tragedies for wisdom to understand the damage caused by suicide and help those contemplating suicide themselves. In Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus the Tyrant, a messenger arrives to report that Jocasta, queen of Thebes, has killed herself. To prepare listeners for this terrible news, he announces, "The tragedies that hurt the most are those that sufferers have chosen for themselves." Edith Hall, whose own life and psyche have been shaped by such loss—her mother's grandfather, mother, and first cousin all took their own lives—traces the philosophical arguments on suicide, from Plato and Aristotle to David Hume and Albert Camus. In this deeply personal story, Hall explores the psychological damage that suicide inflicts across generations, relating it to the ancient Greek idea of a family curse. She draws parallels between characters from Greek tragedy and her own relatives, including her great-grandfather, whose life and death bore similar motivations to Sophocles' Ajax: both men were overwhelmed by shame and humiliation. Hall, haunted by her own periodic suicidal urges, shows how plays by Sophocles and other Greek dramatists helped her work through the loss of her grandmother and namesake Edith and understand her relationship with her own mother. The wisdom and solace found in the ancient tragedies, she argues, can help one choose survival over painful adversity and offer comfort to those who are tragically bereaved.

Weight: 428g
Dimension: 224 x 146 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780300273533