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ISBN: 9781552453414

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The Last Word

Reviving The Dying Art of Eulogy

In turning a critical eye toward the act of eulogy, Julia Cooper manages to perceptively, even playfully, create a new space for the bleak act of mourning. Examining fictional eulogies in The Big Lebowski and Love Actually alongside teary speeches at celebrity funerals and reflections on mourning from Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida, The Last Word is a light in the dark. Braiding her delightful, lively cultural analysis with her own personal experiences of loss, Cooper makes a stunning and compelling case for a more compassionate approach to grief.

Contributors

Julia Cooper

Julia Cooper has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and Hazlitt magazine, among others. Based in Toronto, Ontario, she recently completed a PhD in English Literature at the University of Toronto.

Chapter Title Contents Contributors Pages Year Price

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Introduces the reader to the themes of death explored in this book. 4 $0.40

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On the events of Princess Diana’s wedding and funeral. Intro to the concept of neo-liberal/ capitalist erasure of grief in favour of happiness, and the instrumentalisation of negative … 15 $1.50

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On the history of the eulogy being a public praising of great men, and on making the private public in demonstrations of grief: celebrity grieving, grieving on social media. This chapter … 24 $2.40

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On time and grief: quantifying time in relation to grief, moving past or beyond grief, drawing time barriers around it and ‘moving on’ or ‘moving forward’. Includes an … 17 $1.70

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This chapter highlights the challenge of writing a eulogy and using the words and songs of others to express one’s own feelings of sadness. It focuses on calculating and quantifying life, … 11 $1.10

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This chapter examines the commonplace nature of death and grieving, with examples from Barthes and his Mourning Diary, Freud on the narcissim of grief, and Joan Didion on Year of Magical … 12 $1.20

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This chapter examines repression, avoidance of grief the failing art of Eulogy. Thoughts on changing the art of the eulogy to a depressive rather than lauding form. Embracing grief, pop culture … 18 $1.80

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Summary of works cited in the text. 3 $0.30

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A message of thanks from the author. 1 $0.10

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A brief paragraph about the author. 1 $0.10

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A brief paragraph about the series. 3 $0.30