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The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade - Thomas Lynch
The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade
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Like all poets, inspired by death, Lynch is, unlike others, also hired to bury the dead or cremate them and to tend to their families in a small Michigan town where he serves as the funeral director. In the conduct of these duties he has kept his eyes open, his ears tuned to the indispensable... show more
Like all poets, inspired by death, Lynch is, unlike others, also hired to bury the dead or cremate them and to tend to their families in a small Michigan town where he serves as the funeral director. In the conduct of these duties he has kept his eyes open, his ears tuned to the indispensable vernaculars of love and grief. In these twelve essays is the voice of both witness and functionary. Lynch stands between 'the living and the living who have dies' with the same outrage and amazement, straining for the same glimpse we all get of what mortality means to a vital species. So here is homage to parents who have died and to children who shouldn't have. Here are golfers tripping over grave-markers, gourmands and hypochondriacs, lovers and suicides. These are essays of rare elegance and grace, full of fierce compassion and rich in humour and humanity - lessons taught to the living by the dead.
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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780099767312 (0099767317)
Publisher: Vintage
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Her Fine Eyes
Her Fine Eyes rated it
0.0 The Undertaking: Life Studies From the Dismal Trade
Beautifully, poetically written. An important contribution to the discussion of death (which is not addressed enough in this country). I was most fond of Lynch's personal take on mortuary science: for example, how being an undertaker caused his father to see danger in every activity his kids enga...
Inklings
Inklings rated it
Richard Bernstein said that, "Mr. Lynch emerges as a cross between Garrison Keillor and one of the Irish poets." This seems like a good description to me, though my experience with both is fairly limited. Lynch puts his poetry skills to good use, turning phrases, intertextualizing, crafting and coin...
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