Marx On Suicide

This provocative volume presents a glimpse of social philosopher Karl Marxsviews on the subject of suicide.In 1846 two years before the publication of The Comm... » 

This provocative volume presents a glimpse of social philosopher Karl Marxsviews on the subject of suicide.In 1846 two years before the publication of The Communist Manifesto andtwentyone years before the publication of Das Kapital Karl Marx publishedan essay titled Peuchet on Suicide. Based on the writings of Jacques Peuchet17581830 a leading French police administrator economist and statisticianwhose extensive memoirs included discussions of suicides mainly by women inearlynineteenthcentury Paris Marxs essay was originally presented as atranslation of excerpts from Peuchets memoirs. Because it was considered atranslation rather than an original work and because of its lack of focus oneconomic class conflict the essay has not been widely noticed or analyzed as apart of Marxs oeuvre.As psychiatrist Eric A. Plaut and sociologist Kevin Anderson reveal howeverMarxs Peuchet on Suicide is not a straightforward translation but is infact an edited version in which Marx omits passages from Peuchets originalalters language and adds whole passages of his own in the process alteringthe emphasis of the text from a moral and psychological focus to a profoundlysocial one. Rather than an objective presentation of another critics workthen the essay very strongly reflects Marxs own position on the subject.Marx on Suicide presents Peuchets essay in the original French Marxs essayin the original German and a new translation of Marxs essay in English. Plautalso provides an essay focusing on the psychological aspects of the workcontrasting Marxs thoughts on suicide with those of Freud and Durkheim andAnderson provides an extensiveintroduction situating this essay in the contextof Marxs work especially that on gender.This fascinating text casts light not only on its topic but also on itsremarkable author and his important works. «