Abstract：
Anecdotal evidence suggests a spike in suicides occurred after the publication of Goethe\'s The Sorrows of Young Werther in 1774. Imitation suicides elicited by media portrayals of suicide have since been termed the \"Werther effect.\" However, evidence for a suicide \"epidemic\" after the publication of Goethe\'s Werther is limited to unsystematically documented cases. This study provides an overview of all previously noted copycat suicides, as well as a systematic search for anecdotal evidence of suicides imitating Goethe\'s Werther in the press. Newspaper databases of the DACH countries were searched for reports of suicides that the press had connected to Goethe\'s Werther since 1774. In addition to confirming most suicides that have previously been reported in the literature, eight additional suicides attributed to Goethe\'s Werther not yet addressed in previous literature were identified in the newspapers. Goethe\'s Werther was presumably connected to several copycat suicides. However, newspapers reported on the Werther-epidemic itself and the moral implications of glamorizing suicide much more than on specific imitative suicides. Whether the reports identified by this study substantiate a \"Werther epidemic\" remains up to interpretation. The lack of research on possible further Werther effects elicited by fiction books is discussed.
摘要：
轶事证据表明，在1774年歌德的《年轻的维特的悲伤》出版后，自杀人数激增。此后，媒体对自杀的描述引发的模仿自杀被称为“维特效应”。\"然而,在歌德的维特出版后，自杀“流行病”的证据仅限于未系统记录的病例。这项研究概述了所有以前提到的模仿者自杀，以及在媒体上系统地寻找模仿歌德的维特自杀的轶事证据。搜索了DACH国家的报纸数据库，以查找自1774年以来媒体与歌德的维特有关的自杀报告。除了证实以前文献中报道的大多数自杀外，报纸上还发现了八起归因于歌德·维特的自杀事件，这些自杀事件尚未在以前的文献中得到解决。歌德的维特大概与几起模仿者自杀有关。然而,报纸报道了维特流行病本身以及美化自杀的道德含义，而不是具体的模仿自杀。这项研究确定的报告是否证实了“维特流行病”仍有待解释。讨论了缺乏对小说引起的可能进一步的维特效应的研究。
