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<p>Death is the one inevitable fact of life. Throughout the centuries, humanity has sought to understand this sobering thought through art and ritual. The theme of memento mori informs medieval Danse Macabre, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Renaissance paintings of dissected corpses and "anatomical Eves," Gothic literature, funeral effigies, Halloween, and paintings of the Last Judgment. Deceased ancestors are celebrated in the Mexican Day of the Dead, while the ancient Egyptians mummified their dead to secure their afterlife.0A volume of unprecedented breadth and sinister beauty, 'Death: A Graveside Companion' examines a staggering range of cultural attitudes toward death. The book is organized into themed chapters: The Art of Dying, Examining the Dead, Memorializing the Dead, The Personification of Death, Symbolizing Death, Death as Amusement, and The Dead After Life. Each chapter begins with thought-provoking articles by curators, academics, and journalists followed by gallery spreads presenting a breathtaking variety of death-related imagery and artifacts. From skulls to the dance of death, statuettes to ex libris, memento mori to memorabilia, all the images are of artifacts in the astonishing collection of Richard Harris and range from 2000 BCE to the present day, running the gamut of both high and popular culture.</p>

367 pages : colour illustrations, facsimiles ; 28 cm

Death : a graveside companion / edited by Joanna Ebenstein ; foreword by Will Self.

Putting Falstaff to rest : "tabulating" the facts / R.F. Fleissner.

The gender of death : a cultural history in art and literature / Karl S. Guthke.

Wounding and death in the Iliad : Homeric techniques of description / Wolf-Hartmut Friedrich ; translated by Gabriele Wright and Peter Jones ; preface by Peter Jones ; appendix by K.B. Saunders.

37 pages including color frontispiece, 10 preliminary leaves ; 22 x 18 cm

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Death in literature

Works

Death : a graveside companion / edited by Joanna Ebenstein ; foreword by Will Self.

Putting Falstaff to rest : "tabulating" the facts / R.F. Fleissner.

The gender of death : a cultural history in art and literature / Karl S. Guthke.

Wounding and death in the Iliad : Homeric techniques of description / Wolf-Hartmut Friedrich ; translated by Gabriele Wright and Peter Jones ; preface by Peter Jones ; appendix by K.B. Saunders.

The dance of death in painting and in print / by T. Tindall Wildridge.

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Wellcome uses cookies.

Death in literature

Works

Death : a graveside companion / edited by Joanna Ebenstein ; foreword by Will Self.

Putting Falstaff to rest : "tabulating" the facts / R.F. Fleissner.

The gender of death : a cultural history in art and literature / Karl S. Guthke.

Wounding and death in the Iliad : Homeric techniques of description / Wolf-Hartmut Friedrich ; translated by Gabriele Wright and Peter Jones ; preface by Peter Jones ; appendix by K.B. Saunders.

The dance of death in painting and in print / by T. Tindall Wildridge.

Wellcome Collection

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