Death's following : mediocrity, dirtiness, adulthood, literature / John Limon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Limon, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civilization, Western--20th century.

Civilization, Western.

Civilization, Western--21st century.

Death.

Mediocrity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (196 p.) : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Almost all 20th century philosophy stresses the immanence of death - as drive, as the context of Being, as the essence of humanity's defining ethics or language. Limon makes use of literary analysis (Sebald, Bernhard, Stoppard), cultural analysis, and autobiography to argue that death is best conceived as always unfathomably beyond ourselves, neither immanent nor (in principle) imminent. Thus he rejects the courage of 20th century death philosophy - bravely facing death within life - as an evasion of the real inhuman facelessness of death.

Contents:

Preliminary expectoration

Alas a dirty third: the logic of death

Thomas Bernhard's rant

Following Sebald

Tickling the corpse: Tom Stoppard's memento mori

Don Rickles's rant

Too late, my brothers

Re: Barth.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-8232-4283-8

0-8232-4631-0

OCLC:

830023763