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Death Is a Perspective: from Epicurus to Schopenhauer

July 6, 2019

death, fear, philosophy, subjectivity, time

To say that death is a perspective might at first sound bizarre. The fear of death must be among the most powerful fears humans experience during their life (think about the irony for a second).

Whether that fear is rational or not, it’s something we’ll need to talk about. We also need to ponder on what we mean by “fear of death”. Do we refer to our death or others’? Do we refer to death or dying?

All these are valid questions – albeit, questions most people bypass as too inconvenient. These, too, are parts of the “death is a perspective” thesis. But there’s much more to it.

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Gothic Immortality in A Christmas Carol

July 2, 2019

Criticism

academia, criticism, Gothic, immortality

Note: the following article on Gothic immortality in A Christmas Carol is a modified excerpt (pp. 63-64) from my doctoral dissertation, “Time is Everything with Him”: The Concept of the Eternal Now in Nineteenth-Century Gothic, which can be downloaded (for free) from the repository of the Tampere University Press. For a list of my other academic publications, see the relevant page on the main website.

(Note: Also take a look at the article on immortality in Bram Stoker’s Dracula)

The complexity of Gothic immortality is apparent in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, which arguably still remains an under-analyzed, deceptively simple text. Perhaps due to the rather jovial mood of the story – and certainly of the implied outcome – certain important Gothic devices can pass unnoticed. That is especially true for issues pertaining to temporality, reality, and immortality.

Gothic Immortality in A Christmas Carol — Gothic immortality in *A Christmas Carol* is about facing that which is beyond representation; death, the ultimate sublime

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Colors in Writing: How To Use Them in Your Novel

June 28, 2019

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

feelings, fiction, manipulation, symbolism, writing

Vision is one of our most important senses. We use our eyes to interact with much of the world around us. Unsurprisingly, colors reveal a vast universe of beauty and meaning. Why should they be absent from your fiction? Colors in writing are far more important than many authors give them credit for.

Since colors are so important in our everyday life, it’s only natural that we respond to them in fiction, too—ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς; Eos rhododactylos, rosy-fingered Dawn, says Homer.

colors in writing — Colors in writing often convey rich symbolic meanings

My personal favorite from modern English literature is a description in Pamela Zoline’s “The Heat Death of the Universe”, referring to a land that, like California(!) is “Cunt Pink and Avocado Green”.

Learning how to use colors in your writing can add significant depth to your fiction. So, let’s get started!

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