Myths of Death: From the Isles of the Blessed and Harbingers to Devilish Knights and the Gift of Immortality
19.99 €
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Myths of Death: From the Isles of the Blessed and Harbingers to Devilish Knights and the Gift of Immortality
19.99 €
How do we "know" what awaits us "on the other side"? Paradoxically, often from the stories of those who supposedly saw and experienced these places: in dreams, during illness, on the threshold of death. Or from invented stories about these stories: after all, one of the main themes of mythology, religion, and literature has always been the inevitability of death—and the unknown of what comes after it...
It is precisely these "visions" of the afterlife and the other world—or "journeys" to these worlds—that medievalist philologist and professor at the Sorbonne, Claude Lecouteau, explores in his book. It draws on a solid body of both well-known and rare sources: ancient legends, medieval theological treatises, chivalric romances, Icelandic sagas, folk tales, and testimonies of those who experienced clinical death. Their "data" are very different—and very similar. As is the attitude of people from different times and countries toward their own inevitable fate.
Which of our known stories of descent into hell is the oldest? Why can souls appear in different colors? What is the smell of hell and heaven? How are the "journeys" of Christian visionaries fundamentally different from those of shamans? How was the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice refracted in medieval poems? And how are the stories of medieval mystics similar to those of near-death experiences?
"Myths of Death" is a compelling excursion into the world of afterlife visions, where myths, creativity, and modern science collide.
It is precisely these "visions" of the afterlife and the other world—or "journeys" to these worlds—that medievalist philologist and professor at the Sorbonne, Claude Lecouteau, explores in his book. It draws on a solid body of both well-known and rare sources: ancient legends, medieval theological treatises, chivalric romances, Icelandic sagas, folk tales, and testimonies of those who experienced clinical death. Their "data" are very different—and very similar. As is the attitude of people from different times and countries toward their own inevitable fate.
Which of our known stories of descent into hell is the oldest? Why can souls appear in different colors? What is the smell of hell and heaven? How are the "journeys" of Christian visionaries fundamentally different from those of shamans? How was the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice refracted in medieval poems? And how are the stories of medieval mystics similar to those of near-death experiences?
"Myths of Death" is a compelling excursion into the world of afterlife visions, where myths, creativity, and modern science collide.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series Myths from start to finish