The Power of Death : Contemporary Reflections on Death in Western Society

The Social And Cultural Changes Of The Last Century Have Transformed Death From An Everyday Fact To Something Hidden From View. Shifting Between The Practical And The Theoretical, The Professional And The Intimate, The Real And The Fictitious, This Collection Of Essays Explores The Continued Power Of Death Over Our Lives. It Examines The Idea And Experience Of Death From An Interdisciplinary Perspective, Including Studies Of Changing Burial Customs Throughout Europe; An Account Of Adying Party In The Netherlands; Examinations Of The Fascination With Violent Death In Crime Fiction And The Phenomenon Of Serial Killer Art; Analyses Of Death And Bereavement In Poetry, Fiction, And Autobiography; And A Look At Audience Reactions To Depictions Of Death On Screen. By Studying And Considering How Death Is Thought About In The Contemporary Era, We Might Restore The Natural Place It Has In Our Lives.-- Life Extension, Immortality And The Patient Voice / Catherine Jenkins -- Beyond 'mourning And Melancholia' / Lynne M. Simpson -- War And Requiem Compositions In The Twentieth Century / Wolfgang Marx -- Understanding Death/writing Bereavement : The Writer's Experience / Maria-josé Blanco -- A Way Of Sorrows For The Twentieth Century : Margherita Guidacci's La Via Crucis Dell'umanità / Eleanor David -- From Self-erasure To Self-affirmation : Communally Acknowledged 'good Death' In Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying / Corina Crisu -- Habeas Corpse : The Dead Body Of Evidence In John Grisham's The Client / Firoenzo Iuliano -- The Fascination With Torture And Death In Twenty-first-century Crime Fiction / Rebecca Shillabeer -- The Power Of Negative Creation : Why Art By Serial Killers Sells / Ricarda Vidal -- Screening The Dying Individual : Film, Mortality And The Ethics Of Spectatorship / John Horne -- The Broken Body As Spectacle : Looking At Death And Injury In Sport / Julia Banwell -- Death On Display : The Ideological Function Of The Mummies Of The World Exhibit / Diana York Blaine -- The Romanian Carnival Of Death And The Merry Cemetery Of Săpânţa / Marina Cap-bun -- In The Dead Of Night : A Nocturnal Exploration Of Heterotopia In The Graveyard / Bel Deering -- Scenarios Of Death In Contexts Of Mobility : Guineans And Bangladeshis In Lisbon / Clara Saraiva And José Mapril -- Karaoke Death : Intertextuality In Active Euthanasia Practices / Natasha Lushetich -- Death Is Not What It Used To Be : A Comparison Between Customs Of Death In The Uk And Spain : Changes In The Last Thirty-five Years / Lala Isla -- The Dad Project / Briony Campbell. Edited By Maria-josé Blanco And Ricarda Vidal. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents Illustrations Notes on contributors Introduction Part I: Death in Society 1 Life Extension, Immortality and the Patient Voice 2 Beyond ‘mourning and melancholia’ 3 War and requiem compositions in the twentieth century Part II: Death in Literature 4 Understanding Death/Writing Bereavement: The Writer’s Experience 5 A Way of Sorrows for the Twentieth Century: Margherita Guidacci’s La Via Crucis dell’umanità 6 From Self-Erasure to Self-Affirmation: Communally Acknowledged ‘Good Death’ in Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying 7 Habeas Corpse: The Dead Body of Evidence in John Grisham’s The Client 8 The Fascination with Torture and Death in Twenty-first-Century Crime Fiction Part III: Death in Visual Culture 9 The Power of Negative Creation – Why Art by Serial Killers Sells 10 Screening the Dying Individual: Film, Mortality and the Ethics of Spectatorship 11 The Broken Body as Spectacle: Looking at Death and Injury in Sport 12 Death on Display: The Ideological Function of the Mummies of the World Exhibit Part IV: Cemeteries and Funerals 13 The Romanian Carnival of Death and the Merry Cemetery of Săpânţa 14 In the dead of night: A Nocturnal Exploration of Heterotopia in the Graveyard 15 Scenarios of Death in Contexts of Mobility: Guineans and Bangladeshis in Lisbon 16 Karaoke Death: Intertextuality in Active Euthanasia Practices Part V: Personal Reflections on Death 17 Death is Not What it Used to Be: A Comparison between Customs of Death in the UK and Spain. Changes in the Last Thirty-Five Years 18 The Dad Project Index