Customer Reviews

The Hour of Our Death (Oxford Paperbacks)

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This is a comprehensive survey of one thousand years (longer, really) of western attitudes towards death. By "western" were mostly talking "French", although Aries does include digressions into German, Italian, Spanish, English and American culture. I didn't find the intense focus on France to detract from the overall majesty of this 600+ page opus. For most of the thousand years, the "attitude towards death" that Aries is describing crosses national boundaires.

Aries divides his study into four overlapping historical periods: "The Tame Death", "The Death of the Self", "The Death of the Other", and "The Invisible Death". The Tame Death roughly corresponds with the pre-Christian and early middle ages. This period was characterized by a meek acceptance of passing into a long period of sleep. Death is social, and the death ritual has a central place in the society.

"The Death of the Self" is moves more into the middle and late middle ages. Here, death is used by the mendicant orders of Christianity to convert a quasi-pagan population. Thus, there is a corresponding rise in individual's concern with their own death. Also during this period, there is a rise in materialism, which creates a duality between the love of things and the renunciation of the material world which is supposed to preceed death.

The Death of the Other and the Invisible Death are familiar to most modern folks. The Invisible Death is corresponds with the post WWII American model, and the Death of the Other largely corresponds to the romantic movement (lots of weeping, lots of drama).

Aries basic thesis delves into "the Invention of Tradition" territory, i.e. that modern attitudes towards death are just that, modern, and largely without antecedent in history. Aries also points out that pre-Christian traditions of death have persisted far longer in the west then one might suppose. His main illustration for this contention is the observations that the concept of "purgatory" was not fully accepted until well into the 17th and 18th century (purgatory being an exclusively Chrisitian concept).

The research and execution can only be considered awe inspiring, but the thesis less so. Any modern reader of history is aware that "tradition" is invented. Aries is less concerned as to why this might be the case, but for me, the "why" is the interesting question.

Phillipe Aries takes on an impossible challenge, how eons of people have regarded death, what they thought both of and about it. It's an honest attempt to view the subject from as many disparate theologies and belief systems as are germane and then synthesize them. It's long, and not always as accessible as one might wish but much of this problem is due to a stilted translation. Those with a knowledge of French will note passages where idiomatic French has received a direct translation rather than a rewritten one which would make it flow more sensibly. What it is not is the morgantic cousin to "The American Way of Death" published decades ago. But some of the humor and lightness of touch that volume had could have been helpful. In some cultures, and this is noted, death is a joyous event. Current society has trivialized death (discount casket shops, drive through funerals) and the current turn to evangelism makes death a punishment for many. Aries is careful to see that all points of view are represented but adroitly avoids drawing conclusions. Death is what it is. Think about it. This book provides new insights in how to do that leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions.

I have been a nurse for over 20 years and coached a lot of dying patients and familys.
I also am a history buff and this work bring the two together.
Why are my modern christian patients so afraid of death? why am I,the semi pagen, so unafraid?
A most incredible book, overlooked....