Readings for Remembrance A Collection for Funerals and Memorial Services

A UNIQUE SELECTION OF WRITINGS, FROM ANTIQUITY TO POSTMODERNISM, FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE HUMOROUS, THAT CELEBRATES HUMANITY'S SURVIVING "RITES OF PASSAGE". A rich and thoughtful selection of writings both religious and secular, Readings for Remembrance reaffirms a belief in the renewable spirit of men and women to sustain human community through empathy and affection. Assembling many of her literary favorites, Eleanor Munro has gathered words from antiquity, from scripture and hymns; from Milton and Montaigne; from Stevens and Lawrence; from the modern and postmodern poets whom she adores. Organizing her selections around such themes as raw grief, the mystery of death, heroes, and healing, Munro offers thoughts on how we react to death, why we have memorial services and make readings a part of the ritual, how we remember and pay tribute to loved ones who have died. "My aim in gathering these readings has been to counter the isolation that visits the bereaved in our society", writes Munro in her wonderful introduction, "to remind us all, myself included, that loss is the fundamental human experience, universally shared and collectively survived generation after generation". The result is an anthology unique in its scope, sensibility, and purpose.