The Suicide Archive

“Stunning. Doyle D. Calhoun’s The Suicide Archive brings together groundbreaking research, meticulous analysis, and, most importantly, a fully human approach to the most delicate of subjects.” - Christopher L. Miller, Frederick Clifford Ford Professor of African American Studies and French, Emeritus, Yale University

“The author-investigator skillfully draws the reader into an enthralling narrative, one in which the evidence and traces retrieved during forensic excursions into archives, images, words, and sounds gradually delineate the contours of The Suicide Archive. In doing so, Doyle D. Calhoun’s book offers an alternative historiography and an innovative reading of global literary history while engaging with art history, film, and performance.” - Dominic Thomas, Madeleine L. Letessier Professor of French, University of California, Los Angeles

"This original monograph attempts to connect silenced suicidal occurrences as resistance against oppression and unfair treatment in the French Empire. The volume is packed with information and at times repetitive, but still quite revealing.
Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty." - K. M. Kapanga, Choice

"This book is truly groundbreaking—it challenges paradigms, it resets the field, and it is a veritable tour de force." - Vlad Dima, Journal of the African Literature Association

"[A] complex approach characterizes Calhoun’s masterpiece, which appeals to a diverse audience, including scholars, researchers, and policymakers." - Abou-Bakar Mamah, H-Africa, H-Net Reviews

"The Suicide Archive is an incredible book project, one that would be highly useful for anyone interested in history, African studies, French studies, literature, and the archive." - Noah Goodwin, Mortality