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9781611495751

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Mortality’s Muse: The Fine Art of Dying, D.T. Siebert, professor emeritus of English at the University of South Carolina, surveys Western attitudes toward death from ancient times to the present. ... The book is clearly addressed to the general reader: Siebert writes simply and eloquently, no chapter goes on too long, and the abundant quotations are well chosen. One can read Mortality’s Muse for pleasure, even though it addresses that most painful aspect of human existence: our dreadful knowledge that each of us must die. ... Siebert’s book is altogether excellent. … Mortality’s Muse deserves a wide audience. * The Washington Post * Siebert offers. . . the 'elegiac sense of life,' with its nostalgia and melancholy reminding of the precious to be cherished. * Key Reporter * Mortality’s Muse is a rare book: thoroughly researched, genially delivered. The best—or the most striking—of what has been thought, said, and represented by humans about the onset of death and the act of dying itself. On the one hand, it is what used to be called a commonplace book; on the other, the contextualizing and commenting by D. T. Siebert have the air of a good conversation. In chapter after chapter, one turns to this formidable subject with pleasure. . . .The clear, often-witty style, the sensible organization . . . and its very compactness make Mortality’s Muse a book . . . to return to regularly. * World Literature Today * Mortality’s Muse is a wise and deeply felt book, ranging very widely in time and place, from Homer and Virgil to Robert E. Lee and Philip Larkin. With generous skepticism, Siebert ponders the “good death” as a staged performance, shows that carpe diem insouciance is haunted by the awareness of mortality, and makes a strong case for art as an effective means of 'secular consolation.' -- Leo Damrosch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature Emeritus, Harvard University Siebert has written a compelling account of the many different ways that art has helped human beings to confront and come to terms with their mortality. The general reader as well as the scholar will find this wide-ranging study powerful and persuasive to the mind, the imagination, and the heart. -- Martine W. Brownley, Goodrich C. White Professor of English at Emory University and Director of the Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry A very readable book, with an interesting approach to an obviously important subject. -- Simon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, The New School for Social Research

Mortality's Muse: The Fine Art of Dying, D.T. Siebert, professor emeritus of English at the University of South Carolina, surveys Western attitudes toward death from ancient times to the present. ... The book is clearly addressed to the general reader: Siebert writes simply and eloquently, no chapter goes on too long, and the abundant quotations are well chosen. One can read Mortality's Muse for pleasure, even though it addresses that most painful aspect of human existence: our dreadful knowledge that each of us must die. ... Siebert's book is altogether excellent. ... Mortality's Muse deserves a wide audience. The Washington Post Siebert offers... the 'elegiac sense of life,' with its nostalgia and melancholy reminding of the precious to be cherished. Key Reporter Mortality's Muse is a rare book: thoroughly researched, genially delivered. The best-or the most striking-of what has been thought, said, and represented by humans about the onset of death and the act of dying itself. On the one hand, it is what used to be called a commonplace book; on the other, the contextualizing and commenting by D. T. Siebert have the air of a good conversation. In chapter after chapter, one turns to this formidable subject with pleasure...The clear, often-witty style, the sensible organization ... and its very compactness make Mortality's Muse a book ... to return to regularly. World Literature Today Mortality's Muse is a wise and deeply felt book, ranging very widely in time and place, from Homer and Virgil to Robert E. Lee and Philip Larkin. With generous skepticism, Siebert ponders the good death as a staged performance, shows that carpe diem insouciance is haunted by the awareness of mortality, and makes a strong case for art as an effective means of 'secular consolation.' -- Leo Damrosch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature Emeritus, Harvard University Siebert has written a compelling account of the many different ways that art has helped human beings to confront and come to terms with their mortality. The general reader as well as the scholar will find this wide-ranging study powerful and persuasive to the mind, the imagination, and the heart. -- Martine W. Brownley, Goodrich C. White Professor of English at Emory University and Director of the Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry A very readable book, with an interesting approach to an obviously important subject. -- Simon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, The New School for Social Research

Author Information

D. T. Siebert is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English Literature at the University of South Carolina, Columbia.

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