“A quick coffee and a smoke, and then she croaked!”
Is the way we deal with death changing? Christian Sprang and Matthias Nöllke have read through thousands of death notices they’ve received from readers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Their selection suggests that we say goodbye to each other differently today than we did before. Our quotations are no longer limited to the Bible or Goethe, but instead now include TV series character Derrick (“Harry, go get the car”) and German literary critic Reich-Ranicki (“Death is completely pointless and devastating”). Their texts reveal that death is capable of triggering not only grief, but also hatred (“You’re all going to burn in hell”), resentment (“Worst of luck to your heirs with the 85,000 DM”) or even cheerfulness (“Starting today, it’s ladies’ choice in heaven”). And it seems as though more and more people are also taking the time to say their own goodbyes (“Once I was around, but now I’m in the ground”).
The third, crowning volume of the extensive death notice trilogy highlights how we live and die today in a way that is simultaneously loving and funny, moving and honest.
