ABSTRACT
Even though grief is a universal phenomenon and a basic part of the human condition, there is a sense in which individuals are nevertheless alone in their grief. However, this aloneness is necessarily mediated by sociocultural traditions and norms. This chapter investigates the intersection of the existential and cultural dimensions of grief by primarily focusing on solitude. It asks how grief can be seen as normative, not only in the sense of being mediated by sociocultural norms but more fundamentally in and of itself. Grief is approached not only as a culturally mediated emotion but also as a phenomenon that is constitutive of our cultural life, since all of human life takes place on the background of loss. Our lives are led after others, who have been here before us, and we know that everyone living today will at some point join the ranks of the dead. In addition to this sociocultural analysis based on grief, the chapter looks more specifically at how we, as bereaved, ought to answer upon a particular loss. Heidegger’s dictum of finitude-that no one else can die my death-is equally valid in the case of grief where no one else can grieve my grief.
