|
Abstract
|
The last week of the diary of Arthur Inman, who died by suicide, showed a withdrawal from thoughts of others, an increase in negative emotions, a decrease in positive feelings and, surprisingly, a decrease in words concerned with dearth.
Arthur Inman was born on May 11th, 1895, in Atlanta, Georgia, the only child of rich and prominent residents. He died by shooting himself on December 5th, 1963, in his home in Boston. He left a diary of approximately 17 million words, some of which has been typed and microfilmed. An abbreviated version of the diary was edited by Daniel Aaron and published (Aaron, 1985), amounting to 1599 printed pages in two volumes. Aaron accomplished an incredibly difficult task and is to be commended for his effort.
Unfortunately from the point of view of a suicidologist, Aaron was a Professor of English and American Literature and Language, and he chose what to include in the published volumes on the basis of throwing light on the social and political events of the time, albeit from one person's perspective. In particular, the edited extracts end in 1951 on page 1526, and the last 12 years of the diary are omitted except for very brief extracts of no more than a few pages. The missing years are probably of little interest to a social historian, but crucial to a psychologist trying to understand the reasons for Inman's suicide...
Language: en |