“Death Becomes Them” Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous, and the Notorious; a reading and lecture

photo1Date: Thursday, March 4
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5.00

“Death Become Them, Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous, and the Notorious,” journalist/author Alix Strauss will discuss in an illustrated lecture based on her research for her book “Death Becomes Them,” the phenomenon and history of suicide and the seductive appeal of celebrity suicide in Western culture. Over the course of her lecture, she will present fascinating details leading up to the last days of icons of celebrity suicide such as Virginia Woolf, Sigmund Freud, Spalding Gray, Kurt Cobain, Diane Arbus, and Vincent van Gogh. After reading from selected passages, she will discuss the methodology, pathology, and psychology of these luminaries, with an eye towards understanding why such brilliant people all chose this particular end. She will also touch on society’s needs to “mass mourn,” the cultural phenomenon of funerals, and the role that mental illness and addiction play in suicide.

Along with the reading and lecture, Alix will also do a quiz, complete with prizes. Specially packaged copies of “Death Become Them,” which come with a Quija Board Key chain or a Happy Childhood Memories Spay, will be available for purchasing and signing. Those who buy copies will also get a special gift — a small bottle of Funeral Home perfume, a coffin filled with skeleton mints or a waterproof mascara.

Alix Strauss is author of Death Become Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous, and the Notorious.” She also a media savvy social satirist, and featured lifestyle and trend writer. She is the author of the award winning short story collection, The Joy of Funerals (St. Martin’s Press), and the forthcoming novel, Based Upon Availability, June of 2010 (Harper Collins).

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