This essay explores representations of adolescent suicide in contemporary culture, arguing that the novel The Virgin Suicides highlights a resistance to the idea of agency and self‐reflection in young women that inhibits understanding of mental health issues. The essay argues that the novel presents adolescent suicide as unknowable, using mythic and clinical language to distance the reader from the girls' experience and working to mystify and decontextualise suicide. Tracing patterns of representative language through the novel, the essay shows how the sisters of the title are prevented from speaking and being heard, contributing to their suicides. The essay further argues that this representation underscores the need for adolescents to feel heard in medical contexts and that the inclusion of fiction and popular literature in medical education and training may help provide a frame to explore issues related to adolescent mental health and suicide.

中文翻译：

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叙事事项：理解处女自杀——神话、记忆和医学凝视。

这篇文章探讨了当代文化中青少年自杀的表现，认为小说《处女自杀》突出了年轻女性对代理和自我反省观念的抵制，这种观念阻碍了对心理健康问题的理解。这篇文章认为，小说将青少年自杀描述为不可知的，使用神话和临床语言将读者与女孩的经历拉开距离，并努力使自杀神秘化和脱离背景。通过小说追踪代表性语言的模式，这篇文章展示了标题的姐妹们如何被阻止说话和被听到，导致她们的自杀。