Living death
Richard White; 20/6/08
Wakely, Mark. Sweet Sorrow: A Beginner’s Guide to Death. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2008. ISBN: 0-522-85513-X
People should read this book. It is a very good read. But it is hard to describe or categorise. The cover captions bring out some of its indefinable qualities. Sweet Sorrow is the title, and the theme that runs throughout — a poignant flavour, a perfume that suggests both presence and absence. It’s an evocative sort of book, poetic in its capacity to suggest, invite, hint. But this is a book about death, and ‘the indefinable’ seems appropriate here, too. There is a tradition in Christian theology called apophatic — literally, ‘away from the light’. It is a tradition that emphasises what we do not know about the great mysteries. Wakely has some of this in his treatment of death. He outlines a way of approaching this mystery — a map, if you like. But like the maps of old, with their ‘here there be dragons’, this account includes cautions — ‘here there be questions’.
See: http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=7159
See: Sweet Sorrow (Melbourne University Publishing)
Tags: Australia, Death and Dying