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The Awfully Big Adventure

deja_vroom

12:48 / 16.09.03

I'm writing a book about the last ten minutes of someone's life. It's sort of a first hand account of a mind that knows it is about to die, that recognizes the slow processes of an alien body slowly shutting down.

I have been reading all sort of resources, from medical papers to psychological studies of the several facets of Death; I also got religious texts like the Bardo Todhol, the egyptian Reu Un Pert Em Hru and many more, but you understand that a subject such as "Death" is pretty much inexhaurible. So what I would like to ask from you guys is some URLS/books(but not fiction!!!),/i> that you think could have some insight to offer about the "awfully big adventure", as Peter Pan refers to it. Anything, from grieving accounts, religious practices, anecdotes on dying, anything really.

I really appreciate the input.

Tryphena Absent

13:09 / 16.09.03

I can't off the top of my head think of any books on the subject but I always find the ritual superstition around death interesting. Shutting the curtains as a hearse goes by, removing your hat as a sign of respect, marking death by wearing a black armband, opening the window to let the spirit out, stopping the clocks at the moment of death. These traditions are simply fascinating.

Tezcatlipoca

14:48 / 16.09.03

Pincher Martin by William Golding springs instantly to mind and is very close in subject matter to what you've posted. It's quite a slim volume, and I really can - being a bit of a Golding fan - recommend it hugely.

Jack Vincennes

16:26 / 16.09.03

Again on a similar subject, Krapp's Last Tape by Beckett - the main character is dying, and listening to a tape of himself which he made thirty years before. Being Beckett, the main impression is one of confusion, which I would imagine is the over-riding feature of most people's experience of death, no matter what one believes or doesn't believe about the afterlife.

As far as accounts of the afterlife go, (insofar as there can be 'accounts'), if you have several months in which to read The Divine Comedy I am currently finding that very interesting...

Whisky Priestess

18:21 / 16.09.03

Al Alvarez's The Savage God is a really interesting and readable account of suicide and the cult(ure) surrounding it. I recommend it.

I have a surprising amount of books about death (none fictional). If you're UK (esp London) based I can lend.

deja_vroom

18:42 / 16.09.03

Oh, Whisky, that's so nice... non-fiction books are exactly what I'm looking for (not that the fiction books people have been recommending aren't worth checking, too)... unfortunately I couldn't be more distant from UK (actually I could, but let's move on...) but thanks anyway!!!

Jack Vincennes

20:20 / 16.09.03

Just thought of a non-fiction one which I would have mentioned earlier if I'd thought of it - Thomas Lynch's The Undertaking, which is a book of essays by an undertaker from (I think) Michigan. It's interesting on people's attitudes to death and people who have died, and also on the rituals surrounding death. I think it's difficult to find now, but is definitely worth reading.

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