ABSTRACT

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book deals with a rich phenomenology that adjusting to loss is far more than an abstract cognitive process; it involves every facet of their being-in-the-world. It explores in any detail Avril Maddrell's third category of virtual space. The book suggests what are the ideals of acceptable grief informing the interviewees' answers. From the perspective of the case studies one could reply that the Four-Axis Model emphasises cognitive and intellectual aspects of consolation. The model is unabashedly world-view-centric, and whilst cognitive and world-view aspects are important in ritual and in formulaic behaviour, one should not underrate the comforting function of repetition, sometimes even at the expense of intellectual structure. In short, what is needed today are analyses of consolationscapes, that is analyses of the many ways in which consolation and spatial constellations are intertwined and historically inflected.