The Suicide Academy
A Novel
Published on 24. September 2013
173 pages
978-1-4804-4420-1 (ISBN)
Description
A dark and beautiful tale of a most unusual school
Wolf Walker is the director of the Suicide Academy. Troubled individuals come to his school for just one day and must decide whether to end their lives. As for Wolf himself, he is suffering a kind of death-in-life. The Academy's board members have involved him in a policy skirmish, and the depressed employee he had an affair with is not getting any better. When his ex-wife, Jewel, and her husband come on the scene, ostensibly to make a film about the Academy, he is racked by old jealousies-and he also wonders, might she secretly be checking in?
Packed with meaning, The Suicide Academyis a gripping existential parable about souls adrift in modern life.
Wolf Walker is the director of the Suicide Academy. Troubled individuals come to his school for just one day and must decide whether to end their lives. As for Wolf himself, he is suffering a kind of death-in-life. The Academy's board members have involved him in a policy skirmish, and the depressed employee he had an affair with is not getting any better. When his ex-wife, Jewel, and her husband come on the scene, ostensibly to make a film about the Academy, he is racked by old jealousies-and he also wonders, might she secretly be checking in?
Packed with meaning, The Suicide Academyis a gripping existential parable about souls adrift in modern life.
More details
Person
Daniel Stern (1928-2007) was an American novelist and scholar. Raised inNew York City, he was an accomplished cellist and promising composer before he began his writing career. After graduating from the High School of Music and Art in New York, he earned positions with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony and played with renowned jazz musician Charlie Parker. He also served as the vice president of major media companies including Warner Bros. and CBS. In addition to publishing nine novels and three collections of short fiction, Stern also served as the editor of
Hampton Shorts. As an author, Stern is celebrated for his explorations of post-World War II Jewish-American life; his novels' formal experimentation; and, in the short-story genre, his innovation of the "twice-told tale."
His writing won many awards throughout his career, including the International Prix du Souvenir from the Bergen Belsen Society and the French government; the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; two Pushcart Prizes; two O. Henry Awards; and the honor of publication in The Best American Short Stories. In addition to serving on the faculty of the University of Houston's creative writing program, he taught at Wesleyan, Pace, New York, and Harvard Universities.
His writing won many awards throughout his career, including the International Prix du Souvenir from the Bergen Belsen Society and the French government; the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; two Pushcart Prizes; two O. Henry Awards; and the honor of publication in The Best American Short Stories. In addition to serving on the faculty of the University of Houston's creative writing program, he taught at Wesleyan, Pace, New York, and Harvard Universities.
Content
- Intro
- Cover
- Title Page
- Contents
- Dedication
- Introduction by Anaïs Nin:
- The Ballad of The Suicide Academy
- Part One
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- Part Two
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- Part Three
- 1
- 2
- 3
- About the Author
- Copyright
