Fanny Bocquentin. “La Mort”, collection “à l’œil nu”, illustrated by Caroline Gamon, to be published on 5 October 2023, 158 pages.

This book, published by CNRS Éditions, is aimed at a wide readership and looks at the biological aspects of death and the material and social handling of corpses, past and present.

Summary :

The pain of bereavement and our powerlessness in the face of death are deeply rooted in our history and have been forcefully expressed since the earliest writings of mankind. Since prehistoric times, human societies have gone to great lengths to tame death.

Through the thread of funerary rites, their temporality and their materiality, the reader is invited to discover ancient practices, beliefs from elsewhere or universal invariants that invite us to rethink death and our relationship with those who are absent.

From the first burials dating back more than 100,000 years to the ‘organic funerals’ of the 21st century, via the celebration of the ‘feast of the dead’, communication with the deceased and the future of ossuaries, this book explores the diversity and richness of our relationship with death, underlining our ability to come to terms with our grim fate.