‘Letters to Lucilius’ and death
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David Pujante
Abstract
Moral Letters to Lucilius is a highly modern work in terms of both its generic complexity and its approach, which resembles a self-help treatise written in the twenty-first century. Seneca bases his letters on stoic approaches that may be very useful to today’s society, which lives facing outwards, frightened and stressed. The objective is to attain a moral freedom and an inner independence that removes the fear of death, among other benefits.
Abstract
Moral Letters to Lucilius is a highly modern work in terms of both its generic complexity and its approach, which resembles a self-help treatise written in the twenty-first century. Seneca bases his letters on stoic approaches that may be very useful to today’s society, which lives facing outwards, frightened and stressed. The objective is to attain a moral freedom and an inner independence that removes the fear of death, among other benefits.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Presentation 1
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Section I. Three disciplinary approaches to the subject of death
- Death 11
- Moral ortothanasia and the right to die 23
- In the wake of loss 35
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Section II. Discourse analysis in health settings
- The gift of continuing to live in the body of someone else 49
- Giving meaning to illness and death 67
- Religion, collusion, and “fighting” 85
- Rhetoric of death in clinical case reports and clinical tales 97
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Section III. Death in literary texts
- ‘Letters to Lucilius’ and death 113
- Montaigne, the essay and the end of life 125
- Memory, mothers and post-Freudian melancholia in Mercè Rodoreda’s ‘Night and Fog’ 147
- The scenography of death in contemporary poetry 167
- Beyond the limits of death 179
- Index 195
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Presentation 1
-
Section I. Three disciplinary approaches to the subject of death
- Death 11
- Moral ortothanasia and the right to die 23
- In the wake of loss 35
-
Section II. Discourse analysis in health settings
- The gift of continuing to live in the body of someone else 49
- Giving meaning to illness and death 67
- Religion, collusion, and “fighting” 85
- Rhetoric of death in clinical case reports and clinical tales 97
-
Section III. Death in literary texts
- ‘Letters to Lucilius’ and death 113
- Montaigne, the essay and the end of life 125
- Memory, mothers and post-Freudian melancholia in Mercè Rodoreda’s ‘Night and Fog’ 147
- The scenography of death in contemporary poetry 167
- Beyond the limits of death 179
- Index 195
