ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 critically assesses some of the key studies of death in the humanities and social sciences from the late-20th century, covering, under the heading of “The analytic of finitude,” from Heidegger to Sartre as well as work by psychoanalytically-informed scholars such as Ernest Becker and Norman O. Brown, who constitute what could be called the “denialists.” It then moves on to critique both schools by suggesting that they view death strictly as the death of an individual, leaving the ramifications of the witnessing of the death of others unaddressed.
