Title
Literature, Textbook, and Primary Source: Constructing the Reading List
Document Type
Contribution to Book
Publication Date
2008
Abstract
This chapter discusses the advantages of using religious literature in teaching about death, in order to relieve the topic of its morbid stereotype and approach it positively and holistically. The chapter uses the term “literature” broadly to encompass death narratives about religious persons that may be fictional, biographical, or scriptural. The use of literature intentionally disrupts student expectations for a survey textbook, which is used as ancillary. Reflecting on selected classics of death literature as examples, the chapter considers how these narratives situate religious perspectives historically and culturally without reducing death or religion to abstractions. Discussion centers on The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven, Night by Elie Wiesel, and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.
Editor
Christopher M. Moreman
Identifier
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335224.003.0017
Publisher
Oxford University Press
City
Oxford
ISBN
9780195335224
Repository Citation
Pinnock, S. K. (2008). Literature, textbook, and primary source: Constructing the reading list. In C. M. Moreman (Ed.), Teaching death and dying (pp. 189-212). Oxford University Press.
Publication Information
Teaching Death and Dying