Emma Bovary.
Anna Karenina.
Othello.
Jocasta.
Brunnhilde.
Hedda Gabler.
Romeo and Juliet.
Werther.
Dido.
Cio-Cio-San.
Antigone and Haemon.
Miss Julie.
Axel Heyst.
Quentin Compson.
Aida.
Inspector Javert.
Mynheer Peeperkorn. Leo Naphta.
Smerdyakov.
Rudolf Virag.
Edna Pontellier.
Hero.
Manrico’s Leonora.
Cheri.
Goneril.
Richard Cory.
McWatt.
Tosca.
Stravrogin. Kirillov.
Martin Eden.
Hurstwood.
Pyramus and Thisbe.
Roithamer.
Pierre Glendinning.
Winnie Verloc.
George Wilson.
Hedvig Ekdal.
Christine Mannon. Orin Mannon.
Willy Loman.
Senta.
Maggie Johnson.
Peter Grimes.
Bess, the landlord’s black-eyed daughter.
Svidrigailov.
James O. Incandenza.
Konstantin Treplev.
Bartleby.
Septimus Smith.
Deirdre.
Seymour Glass.
Ophelia.
Samson.
Eustacia Vye.
Phaedra.
Alcetis.
Launcelot.
From David Markson’s Reader’s Block. By my count, Markson references throughout the book 149 suicides (or near-suicides, or presumed suicides) of real, actual persons (i.e., not including the list above). This count does not include Markson’s reference to “Nine hundred and sixty Jews” who “committed suicide at Masada, in 73 A.D., rather than surrender to the Roman legions that had lately sacked Jersusalem.” It’s entirely possible I miscounted.
Image by Daniel Carter Beard for Twain’s 1897 volume Following the Equator.
