The Savage God

Using the untimely death of the poet and friend, Sylvia Plath, as a point of departure, Al Alvarez confonts the controversial and often taboo area of suicide. 'The Savage God' explores the cultural attitudes, theories, truths and fallacies surrounding suicide and refracts them through the windows of philosophy, art and literature - following the black thread from Dante through Donne, Chatterton and the Romantic Agony, to Dada and Pavese. This bestselling book is a classic text, a timeless and compelling meditation on the Savage God at the heart of human existence.