830 Literaturen germanischer Sprachen; Deutsche Literatur
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In recent introductions to German literary studies one reads that the publication of Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther" was followed by a veritable wave of suicides among its readers. However, according to two studies that have collected and reexamined the few hints we have about such alleged cases the story of the suicide wave seems to be a myth rather than an accurate historical account. Why, then, do we still spread this myth? First, I outline a number of cognitive predispositions that might be responsible for the intuitive plausibility of the suicide story. Second, I try to explain why even in academic writing we often succumb to these cognitive tendencies. I propose that our discipline suffers by generally undervaluing empiricism and that this calls for revision.
Adam Bernd (1676 - 1748), der nach der Publikation zweier Traktate, die den Unwillen der Amtskirche hervorriefen, von seinem Amt als Prediger an der Leipziger Peterskirche resignierte, scheint mit seiner Klage recht zu haben: Zwar gehört der Selbstmörder seit der Antike zum Bild des Melancholikers, doch sind die Erklärungen der Zusammenhänge bis heute spärlich geblieben.