Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION
- 1 PRELIMINARIES
- PART I UNIVERSALS AND CULTURE
- PART II DEATH AS TRANSITION
- 4 THE LIVING AND THE DEAD: A RE-EXAMINATION OF HERTZ
- 5 DEATH RITUALS AND LIFE VALUES: RITES OF PASSAGE RECONSIDERED
- PART III THE ROYAL CORPSE AND THE BODY POLITIC
- PART IV SEEING OURSELVES ANEW
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - THE LIVING AND THE DEAD: A RE-EXAMINATION OF HERTZ
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION
- 1 PRELIMINARIES
- PART I UNIVERSALS AND CULTURE
- PART II DEATH AS TRANSITION
- 4 THE LIVING AND THE DEAD: A RE-EXAMINATION OF HERTZ
- 5 DEATH RITUALS AND LIFE VALUES: RITES OF PASSAGE RECONSIDERED
- PART III THE ROYAL CORPSE AND THE BODY POLITIC
- PART IV SEEING OURSELVES ANEW
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In common with several of the influential essays originally published in the Année sociologique, Hertz's “A Contribution to the Study of the Collective Representation of Death” is more complex than is immediately apparent. At first sight, it appears to follow one topic in a direct fashion. Scholars already wedded to a particular theoretical viewpoint find it easy to pick out only familiar lines of argument. But a closer study reveals several interwoven themes. This is what makes the essay useful. Each argument is worth following out; each suggests a new interpretation of one's field data. But in order to make full use of Hertz's insights, it is necessary to tease apart the distinct threads of argument.
THE THREE SIDES OF HERTZ'S ANALYSIS
The most direct way to begin is with Hertz's dramatis personae: the corpse, the soul, and the mourners. Each part of the essay is devoted to one of these, producing a tripartite structure made explicit in the section headings. In his introduction to the English translation, Evans-Pritchard pointed out the “three sides” of Hertz's argument. But contrary to what Evans-Pritchard implies, the arguments differ not in which of the actors takes center stage, but in which pair of actors is brought into dialogue.
We may imagine the arguments as the sides of a triangle, the corners of which are the aspects of the corpse and its disposal, the soul and the dead, and the living and the mourners (see Figure 3).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Celebrations of DeathThe Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual, pp. 79 - 107Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991