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Mortality's Muse: The Fine Art of Dying
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Bibliographic Detail
Publisher
Univ of Delaware Pr
Publication date
April 2, 2015
Pages
141
Binding
Paperback
Edition
Reprint
Book category
Adult Non-Fiction
ISBN-13
9781611495751
ISBN-10
161149575X
Dimensions
0.50 by 6 by 9 in.
Weight
0.55 lbs.
Original list price
$34.99
Other format details
university press
Summaries and Reviews
Amazon.com description: Product Description: The inevitability of deathâthat of others and our ownâis surely among our greatest anxieties. Mortalityâs Muse: The Fine Art of Dying explores how art, mainly literary art, addresses that troubling reality. While religion and philosophy offer important consolations for lifeâs end, art responds in ways that are perhaps more complete and certainly more deeply human. Among subjects treated: the ars moriendi or âart of dyingâ tradition; the contrast between past and more recent cultural values; the religious consolationâs value but shortcoming for some people; the role of art in offering a secular consolation; dying as a performing art; the philosophic ideal of good death; the lively appeal of carpe diem or living for the present moment; the elegiac sense of life; and the two opposite parts Mortalityâs Muse has played in dealing with war, the most senseless and unnecessary cause of death.
The idea of an aesthetic sense of life forms the basis of these discussions. Human beings are makers in the largest sense of the word, and art represents everything they makeâcivilization itself with all its greatness and failings. Our civilization may ultimately be nothing but an evanescent blip in the cosmos. Even so, the creation of beauty, meaning, and purpose from disorder and suffering defines us as human beings. In the words of Robinson Jeffers, even if monuments eventually crumble and all art perish, yet for thousands of years carved stones have stood and âpained thoughts found the honey of peace in old poems.â
The idea of an aesthetic sense of life forms the basis of these discussions. Human beings are makers in the largest sense of the word, and art represents everything they makeâcivilization itself with all its greatness and failings. Our civilization may ultimately be nothing but an evanescent blip in the cosmos. Even so, the creation of beauty, meaning, and purpose from disorder and suffering defines us as human beings. In the words of Robinson Jeffers, even if monuments eventually crumble and all art perish, yet for thousands of years carved stones have stood and âpained thoughts found the honey of peace in old poems.â
Editions
Hardcover
from Univ of Delaware Pr (October 10, 2013)
9781611494549 | details & prices | 141 pages | 6.25 × 9.25 × 0.50 in. | 0.84 lbs | List price $65.00
Paperback
The price comparison is for this edition
Reprint edition from Univ of Delaware Pr (April 2, 2015)
9781611495751 | details & prices | 141 pages | 6.00 × 9.00 × 0.50 in. | 0.55 lbs | List price $34.99
About: The inevitability of deathâthat of others and our ownâis surely among our greatest anxieties.
About: The inevitability of deathâthat of others and our ownâis surely among our greatest anxieties.
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