Free to talk?
In the UK we have freedom of speech. We are happy talking about anything and everything – except that one day we will be able to speak no more. That subject we avoid, despite the fact that it is an experience we will all face. Right now, I am doing what our culture always does – politely skirting around the unmentionable… We don’t want to be morbid do we!Start engaging with literature and you’ll find previous generations had no such issues. Everybody dies, authors proclaim, get used to it!
> Every parent expected some of their offspring not to make it
> Wives knew that childbirth might kill them one day
> Men frequently found their 50’s to be their final decade
> Illness rarely had a remedy.
Death wasn’t an avoidable ‘unmentionable’, but in your face.
So literature engages with death. It faces it, does not flinch from examining the impact of dying on the person involved and those left behind. Characters ponder what it will be like and what they might expect on the other side of the grave.
This week sees the release of Attitudes to death. It helps students explore how cultures alter through time in the way they approach the end of life. It enables readers to trace how perspectives from the classical world and the Christian Western worldview have affected attitudes reflected within texts. Currently covering the genres of poetry and drama, after Christmas it will also feature prose.
The inescapable cannot, by definition, be escaped, but at least literature can mediate the experience to us. So instead of running or skirting around, why not try connecting?
Death wasn’t an avoidable ‘unmentionable’, but in your face.
So literature engages with death. It faces it, does not flinch from examining the impact of dying on the person involved and those left behind. Characters ponder what it will be like and what they might expect on the other side of the grave.
Only connect
Earlier this term Crossref-it.info launched Only connect. The Crossref-it.info team have taken a series of themes and then looked at how each runs through and unites various texts, providing hundreds of helpful links to a variety of onsite sources.This week sees the release of Attitudes to death. It helps students explore how cultures alter through time in the way they approach the end of life. It enables readers to trace how perspectives from the classical world and the Christian Western worldview have affected attitudes reflected within texts. Currently covering the genres of poetry and drama, after Christmas it will also feature prose.
The inescapable cannot, by definition, be escaped, but at least literature can mediate the experience to us. So instead of running or skirting around, why not try connecting?
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