The Pedro Almodovar film “Volver” explores the longing the love will prove more powerful than death.
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Tag Archives: death and dying
Facing Up to the Gargoyle of Cancer
One of my students is exploring her mother’s terminal illness, and her own grieving, through Gail Godwin’s novel “The Good Husband.”
Faustus’s Soul and a Grieving Student
This past year I have learned, in a new and powerful way, that the Faustus legend is a powerful exploration of the meaning of life and death. This is thanks to Caitie Harrigan, a senior at St. Mary’s who has been writing her senior project on the legend. As Caitie told me recently, she never […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, grieving | Comments closed
A Child’s Murder, a Humane Vision
“Troubled Water,” a 2008 Norwegian film about a horrendous crime, brings out the depth and humanity of everyone involved.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bridge over Troubled Water, death of a child, Erik Poppe | Comments closed
Twilight, Evening Bell, After That the Dark
I share Tennyson’s wonderful poem “Crossing the Bar” in memory of an old Navy friend who died this past week.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Crossing the Bar", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Julia Bates | Comments closed
Hitchens: A Life Lived in Literature
Even in his final days, Christopher Hitchens was having active discussions about novels, poems and plays. He understood how much was at stake in literature.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Whitsun Weddings", Christopher Hitchens, death, Ian McKewin, Philip Larkin | Comments closed
The Black Dragon Scales of Grief
Nobel laureate Thomas Tranströmer’s poem “After a Death” accurately captures how it feels to lose someone you love.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "After a Death", Beowulf, Thomas Tranströmer | Comments closed
A Philosophy Teacher’s Last Lecture
In the memorial service held in honor of my philosophy colleague Alan Paskow, we listened to some observations Alan recorded about his favorite poem, Dylan Thomas’ “Fern Hill.” I share them with you here. Alan recorded them for his funeral service and I think I understand why.
Final Instructions from a Dying Teacher
Last Thursday we had our memorial service for my friend Alan Paskow, the philosophy colleague whom I have written about several times. In my own remarks I invoked Plato’s Crito. I said that, for the three-plus years that Alan lived with the diagnosis of a terminal illness, he was like Socrates after having drunk the hemlock He knew that he was dying but he used his illness as an opportunity to explore with others what it meant. Like Socrates, he was a teacher to the end.