ethics of mourning, The

ethics of mourning, The

By R. Clifton Spargo

Book Description

When grief refuses to be comforted, it becomes something far more profound than personal sorrow. R. Clifton Spargo reveals how mourning transforms into a deeply ethical practice when it resists the conventional expectations of healing and acceptance.

This thoughtful exploration examines figures throughout literature who embody what Spargo calls "ethical mourning" - from ancient mythological characters to Shakespeare's Hamlet, from Renaissance poets to Emily Dickinson and Thomas Hardy. These mourners share a common thread: they reject easy consolation and, in doing so, honor the true weight of loss in ways that challenge society's comfortable assumptions about grief.

Drawing upon the philosophical insights of Paul Ricoeur, Bernard Williams, and Emmanuel Levinas, Spargo demonstrates how anti-consolatory grief serves a moral purpose that extends beyond individual healing. Through careful analysis of elegiac poetry and Holocaust literature, including works by Sylvia Plath and Randall Jarrell, he shows how resistant mourning becomes an act of witness and remembrance.

This scholarly yet accessible work offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between loss, memory, and moral responsibility. For readers seeking to understand grief's deeper dimensions, Spargo presents mourning not as a problem to be solved, but as a profound ethical stance that honors both the dead and the living through its very refusal to be easily resolved.

Who Is This For?

📖 Reading Level: Medium (200-400 pages) (~9 hours)

📄 Length: 314 pages

What You'll Discover

  • ✓ Explore English literature
  • ✓ Understand death from spiritual perspective
  • ✓ Navigate the process of grief
  • ✓ Explore Elegiac poetry
  • ✓ Understand spiritual ethics
  • ✓ Explore Ethics
  • ✓ Explore Bereavement
  • ✓ Explore American literature

Topics Covered

English literature Death in literature Grief Elegiac poetry Ethics in literature Ethics Bereavement American literature English Elegiac poetry Loss (Psychology) in literature Conduct of life Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature American Elegiac poetry Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Grief in literature History and criticism English literature, history and criticism Mourning customs in literature American literature, history and criticism Elegiac poetry, history and criticism Judaism and literature

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