Comparative analysis of the phenomenon of suicide in the philosophical and literary discourses of the XXth century.

Abstract

The article examines how the issue of suicide was treated in the philosophical
and literary discourse in the XXth century. The author notes that in both fields this
issue in most cases did not constitute the main topic of the works by writers and
thinkers and was touched upon in passing. It is concluded that the 19th-century
writers had a deeper understanding of suicide than the XXth-century philosophers
who were influenced by them and tended to switch to literary discourse when
addressing the issue of suicide. The author focuses on the works of M. Blanchot,
G. Chkhartishvili, and R. Barthes who studied suicide through the prism of such
categories as opportunity, creativity, and love, using a sublime literary language.

Keywords: suicide, death, motive, philosophical discourse, literary discourse