JALOUX (Edmond), French writer and literary critic (1878–194 - Lot 23

JALOUX (Edmond), French writer and literary critic (1878–1949). Signed autograph manuscript titled “Observation on the Psychology of Suicide,” with numerous corrections and revisions. 11 pp., folio. A very interesting study on suicide, not in the philosophical sense of the term but in the psychological sense. It examines each human being’s relationship with death, the unconscious mechanisms at play, and the various vulnerabilities that trigger this act. He draws on numerous literary references to support and illustrate his points. “The first problem that arises is the sincerity of the person who commits suicide. It seems absurd at first, but would Robinson Crusoe kill himself? Suicide seems to be an essentially social act. Dostoevsky—who, on this point as on all others, has gone further than almost anyone—has Stavrogin say at the end of *The Possessed*: ‘I know I ought to kill myself, to wipe myself off the face of the Earth like a wretched insect; but I am afraid of suicide, for I fear I might display greatness of soul.” [...] Thus, suicides committed by sane individuals differ from those of the insane only in that their motives are comprehensible to us [...] Napoleon attempted suicide twice; first in Marseille, driven by poverty when, as a young man, he was living there with his mother and sister, and then on the eve of leaving Fontainebleau. But when all hope was lost, and all that lay before him was the hell of Saint Helena and the ravages of cancer, he no longer thought of suicide, but fell in love with a young girl. He would ride out on horseback to meet a sixteen-year-old girl, taking with him—so he could spot her from afar—the spyglass from Jena and Austerlitz...”