Description

An engaging, insightful meditation on death, from one of our leading minds

Death is ever-present in literature. From Shakespearean tragedies to elegiac poetry, the spectre of human mortality has always haunted writers.

In this wide-ranging and personal account, Terry Eagleton examines the ways in which western culture has reflected on death. Eagleton looks at the works of novelists, poets, and playwrights-including Andrew Marvell and Dylan Thomas, Samuel Beckett and Andrew Carter. He draws together topics from a broad range of work, from comedy and humour to the literature of mortality and tragedy, to explore the ideas and individuals which have been central to his spiritual and intellectual life.

This is an erudite and humorous meditation on what it feels like to be at the end of days.

Publisher Review

“Terry Eagleton is among the handful of contemporary writers I never fail to read, and his prodigious energies on the page remain a source of wonder. I will reread this book many times, and it will stay beside my bed for consolation and entertainment.”-Jay Parini, author of Borges and Me

“If Terry Eagleton didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”-Simon Critchley, author of The Book of Dead Philosophers

“Eagleton’s own critical interventions have always been distinguished by an exemplary clarity, not to mention a generous humour.”-Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

“Terry Eagleton is the most influential living British literary critic.”-Robert Eaglestone, Times Literary Supplement

“Reading a book by Terry Eagleton is like watching fireworks.”-Dennis O’Brien, Christian Century

“Eagleton is a witty, insightful thinker with a penchant for glib asides and wry dashes of humor.”-Michael Patrick Brady, PopMatters