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'I like the essay form', says the author in his foreword. 'It liberates me from the limitations of scientific writings. I don't have to succumb to the scholar's compulsion to quote as many fellow professionals as possible and thereby wear a mask of sophistication. I can try to get rid of scientific jargon and magical, mystifying
words… Above all, in the essay form, I can contradict myself and I can use emotional illogic just as frequently as scientific exactitude.' Indeed, this book is not meant to be a scientific monograph based on clinical observations and statistical data. The latter, in fact, are only rarely cited. And it is all the more regrettable that the source of the one thousand cases on which the author bases his detailed tabulations of motivations to suicide was completely omitted.
This book, in short, is but a collection of philosophical reflections, broad definitions, and eloquent aphorisms. To the old aphorisms to which the author refers with some condescension are added a few new ones. For instance, 'suicide represents the precocious victory over the inner drive toward death'. Or, 'there is also the secret belief in mystical rescue and revival; an urge to make a magic offering to the gods, and many other motivations contributing to the fateful act. Passivity means lack of vitality. The man who is weak and has an awareness of it may compensate with a fantasy of power, and the will to power is a frequent motivation of suicide… Life begins with violent departure—the trauma of birth—and life ends with departure—the trauma of death', philosophizes the author.
His gift for poetic imagery often carries him beyond the frontiers of clinical experience. To say that the homosexual act represents a suicidal tendency, 'an inner fury against prolonging the race', is one typical example of this kind of speculation. Or that 'having produced children can be symbolically experienced as a suicidal act'. Or again, that 'bringing children into the world s