Present and accounted for

: Making sense of death and the dead in late postmodern culture

Abstract

This thesis examines engagement with death and the dead in what is defined here as late postmodern culture. It is argued that late postmodern culture offers a hospitable environment for death and the dead, in large part due to the confluence of postmodern impulses to include voices from the margins with capitalism’s exhaustive inclusion of everything into the market. The thesis is situated as a contribution to the field of death studies. It adopts an interdisciplinary humanities approach, drawing on a range of theory and in particular theory associated with postmodernism and deconstruction. It is argued that death studies as an academic formation can benefit from a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, including those aligned with the humanities. The phrase ‘making sense’ is utilised to denote a process of meaning making that is always active and ongoing. The ways in which death and the dead are ‘made sense’ of in a range of examples including theory, autobiography, artwork, popular discourses and television are explored. The thesis defines late postmodern culture and examines the treatment and positioning of death and the dead within it. It goes on to argue that the self has taken on a particular primacy in the current moment, with significant consequences in terms of death and the dead. Autobiographical engagement with death and the dead by Julian Barnes, Jenny Diski and Will Self are examined in light of the notion of autothanatography before the resurrection of the dead in visual media is explored, with a particular focus on three television series: Les Revenants, In The Flesh and The Fades. It is argued that death and the dead are central to late postmodern culture and present in a wide range of cultural production within it, and that a particular emphasis on the responsibility and accountability of the living toward the dead is beginning to emerge.

Date of Award	29 Jun 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Alec Charles (Supervisor) & Marcus Leaning (Supervisor)