The article focuses on roadside memorials (RSMs) created for the victims of traffic accidents in the Czech Republic. It provides the results of longitudinal field research conducted in central and northern Bohemia in the periods 2005-2008 (first research wave) and 2011-2014 (second research wave). Attention is devoted particularly to the temporality of such memorials. The research, consisting of the study of a sample of 69 roadside memorials, was repeated after a period of around seven years and the data from both waves sebsequently compared; the final sample consisted of 89 memorials.
As commonly known the notion of mourning refers to the experience that occurs in a human’s mind after the death of someone close to him/her. Meanwhile, in the light of the contemporary discourse the term of mourning gains a different perspective. The new look at the feeling of mourning shows that it can occur when someone loses an important value such as health, or a child of one’s own. Each of the situations when someone loses a person or thing important to him/her causes different constellation of feelings to arise and dictates new pace. However, within these differences some similarities can be picked out, which show a common denominator. That common denominator determines the curiosity of the feeling of mourning experienced during a lifetime, before the actual hora mortis comes.
Each year on 9 May Russia celebrates Victory Day with great grandeur and pathos. However, it is difficult to realize from afar how deep the roots of this pathos are and what it actually means for people to participate in these celebrations. It is also worth mentioning that, besides drilled marching and national pathos, people in some villages are used to combining Victory Day celebrations with the spring commemorations of the dead.
There is little research in the field of bereavement that takes into consideration the financial component. Previous publications have indicated that bad financial situation may impede the process of mourning. This paper examines the research conducted by A.Moore in Togo on the influence of poverty on parents dealing with bereavement and puts is in a wider context of bereavement theory.
The aim of the current study was to examine how children describe an experience of losing their close ones. We analysed how children structure and make sense of their experiences of losing somebody. We also wondered, if, basing on the analysis of the experiences’ descriptions, it is possible to determine factors which make it easier or harder to handle the death of somebody close. The experiment was exploratory and descriptive, so the questions asked were as follows: (1) How do children describe their experience of losing somebody close? (2) Are there any significant qualitative differences in the way of describing the trauma connected with the loss of somebody close? The study was based on the psychological assumptions of the theory of experiencing a loss, on the division of the mourning into stages, and also on shaping and giving a meaning to the frame of mind by a narrative. Forming own needs can be a healing factor, and experiencing emotions, both positive and negative ones, helps to get through the process of mourning. In accordance with the stages of mourning it was assumed that a possibility of a farewell with the departed ones, even symbolic, influences the adaptation process after the loss and, therefore, the psychological wellbeing. It was also assumed that an important factor helpful in building a coherent history of a loss is a support of adults from the child’s surrounding. The study showed a number of correlations and relationships between analysed variables. The obtained results can be an implication for further analysis and they can set direction for following research.
The aim of the current study was to examine how children describe an experience of losing their close ones. We analysed how children structure and make sense of their experiences of losing somebody. We also wondered, if, basing on the analysis of the experiences’ descriptions, it is possible to determine factors which make it easier or harder to handle the death of somebody close. The experiment was exploratory and descriptive, so the questions asked were as follows: (1) How do children describe their experience of losing somebody close? (2) Are there any significant qualitative differences in the way of describing the trauma connected with the loss of somebody close? The study was based on the psychological assumptions of the theory of experiencing a loss, on the division of the mourning into stages, and also on shaping and giving a meaning to the frame of mind by a narrative. Forming own needs can be a healing factor, and experiencing emotions, both positive and negative ones, helps to get through the process of mourning. In accordance with the stages of mourning it was assumed that a possibility of a farewell with the departed ones, even symbolic, influences the adaptation process after the loss and, therefore, the psychological wellbeing. It was also assumed that an important factor helpful in building a coherent history of a loss is a support of adults from the child’s surrounding. The study showed a number of correlations and relationships between analysed variables. The obtained results can be an implication for further analysis and they can set direction for following research.
In his book Rzeczy, których nie wyrzuciłem [Things I Didn’t Throw Out] Marcin Wicha, in a gesture of filial mourning, tries to reconstruct the portrait of hisdeceased mother by writing about the objects she has left. Starting from the material, he recreates the behaviours, views, and family memories of his mother, and saves from the oblivion the scenes that most fully reflect her complexity. Wicha’s book is also an expression of rebellion against the ready word formulas used in the face of death as it attempts to create a story that matches only one deceased person. Rzeczy, których nie wyrzuciłem corresponds with other “mourning texts” (works by Różewicz, Iwasiów, Barthes and Zagajewski) but thanks to the author’s skillful oscillation between individual life and general truths, pathos and irony, understatements and exposures, the personal and the literary – the book turns out to be an original example of writing about loss as it avoids banality and sentimentality.
In Ukrainian and Belarusian 17th century literature of mourning there is no one common to all the authors vision of old age. It was presented as adifficult state, filled with suffering and even dangerous for those whom mental and bodily weakness prevented the holding of penance-delayed too long. At the same time, this grim vision coexisted with the optimistic picture of the autumn of life active and fruitful in creative activities. Old age was the penalty for sin, but also one way of moving away from him and sourcing selection everlasting. Old age was sometimes synonymous with maturity, wisdom, young people, could be asymbol of duration in sin. Despite that dra ws certain tendency to recognition of the topic related to the fact that these considerations were partly subordinated to panegyric, and above all pastoral goal. Traditional mourning for the composition elements: to show the size of the loss, mourning the dead or solace grief of the living, most often occur as acomponent of moral exhortations and instructions. The explanation of this trend must be sought in an environment of contemporary authors’ funeral compositions. They were mainly representatives of the intellectual elite of clerical: priests, bishops and archimandrites; church reformers at the same time, cultural activists, workers and publisher. So those who took on their shoulders the renewal of religious life and spiritual and cultural life in The Metropolitanate of Kiev, realizing it and by disseminated in mourning texts role models and moral attitude.
UK
В українській та білоруській жалобній літературі 17-го століття відсутнє спільне для всіх авторів бачення старості. Вона зображена передусім як складний стан, наповнений стражданням, особливо небезпечний для тих, кому психічна та тілесна слабість не дозволила здійснити надто довго відкладуваного покаяння. Водночас цей похмурий образ співіснував з оптимістичною картиною осени життя — активної і плідної творчою діяльністю. Старість була водночас покаранням за гріх, засобом відходу від нього і здобування доброї вічності. Іноді — синонімом зрілості, мудрості молодих, або символом гріховного існування. Попри ці суперечності у підході до проблеми старості можна простежити певну тенденцію використання теми. Вона пов’язана з фактом часткового її підпорядкування панегіричній та, перш за все, пастирській меті. Традиційні елементи траурних композицій: зазначення розміру втрати, оплакування померлого, заспокоєння душевного болю живих — найчастіше виступають як компоненти моральних настанов та інструкцій. Пояснення цієї тенденції слід шукати в середовищі авторів — в основному представників інтелектуальної еліти, насамперед духовної (єпископи, ігумени та архімандрити), в той же час церковних реформаторів, культурних діячів, видавців. Отже, це були подвижники оновлення релігійного та духовно-культурного життя в Київській Митрополії, які реалізували його, між іншим, шляхом поширення в траурних текстах життєвих взірців та зразків моральної поведінки.
This article contains reflections on the most important themes of Justyna Bargielska’s lyrics: death, mortality and loss. The peculiar compulsion of creating poems centered around thanatologic motifs stems from the poet’s biographic experience, and her lyrics very often constitutes an expression, subversive and iconoclastic, of the female experiencing mourning. Poetry turns out to be a value contrasted with death, but its effect facilitating reconciliation with the inevitability of the end has a dimension fragmentary, conditional and limited in time, which forces us to take further efforts towards the consciously taken job of “creating against death”.
Trauma, a word derived from Greek, literally means ‛injury‛. It is defined as a reaction to a strong emotional stimulus which cannot be processed at a specific moment in a person's life. Trauma makes one feel powerless. They are very uncertain about their future and feel as they have no control over it which leads to a great deal of anxiety. People differ in the way they react to a crisis. For some of them, crisis is a source of strength, whereas for others it cannot be ever processed in a constructive manner. The researchers in the field of psychology are looking for solutions to that problem. This paper presents the issues associated with the loss of a child and life after having worked through trauma (considering women and men alike). The research was conducted on the group of 44 individuals (including 22 women and 22 men) and was focused on the way they were coping with the loss of a child. The research was conducted at the ‛By Dalej Iść‛ Foundation ('to go on'). The research procedure was based on the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, which consists of statements that describe different changes which occur as a result of experiencing a traumatic event.
The article presents how Helen Macdonald, the author of H is for Hawk, undertakes the task of ordering ‘the archaeology of grief’ – uncovering strata of remembrance with past states of mind, forgotten events, emotions, and earlier perspectives. Because the book reveals the author’s strong sense of connection with nature, it is therefore classified under the heading ‘nature writing’ or ‘new nature writing’. This non-fiction autobiographical narrative is, however, primarily a personal journey where the narrator’s/author’s inner self is revealed through carefully orchestrated memories which form her as a protagonist. The narrative is a confession of how she struggled through the ordeal of mourning after her father’s death and how in order to cope with the trauma of loss she undertook the task of taming a hawk. The story shows how in the course of manning the hawk Helen begins to ‘forget’ or rather deny civilisation, social ties, her own professional duties, and how the obsession with bird taming takes her to the very edge of sanity. At the same time, however, it is the hawk that becomes a lifeline, a connection with the corporeal, the tangible, and the physical. Moreover, the narrator’s journey with the goshawk through English landscape becomes a catalyst for remembrance that belongs to public realm. And so, it evokes more lengthy reflections on environment, literary heritage, history, society, and relations between humans and nature.
The article explores grief as a memory-related emotional response to the loss of loved ones as presented in Octavia Butler’s fantasy novel Fledgling. The article deals with the inability to experience grief due to memory loss and the struggles that come with it. The reasons behind the inability of the main character to experience grief and its meaning are investigated. Two potential explanations are explored: the inability to experience grief as a result of general dissociative amnesia caused by the traumatic experience of witnessing the slaughter of one’s family and being left on the brink of death, and the possibility of the loss of affect induced by overwhelming feelings of loss. The grief over a person of whom the memories are intact is analyzed and contrasted with the lack of grief for the forgotten relatives. The idea of continuing bonds connected with the mourning process is briefly presented and illustrated using examples from Fledgling. The theory of five stages of grief formulated by the psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is briefly introduced. Some of the stages of Kübler-Ross’s theory (denial, anger and acceptance) are illustrated through the analysis of the grief experienced by the main character. The distinct inability to govern or temper the emotional response to death is presented. Grief is also briefly introduced as a possible bonding instrument.
Autor artykułu przedstawia w nowym świetle późną twórczość Wincentego Pola, wychodząc od zapomnianego poematu „Pacholę hetmańskie”. Analizując wypowiedzi poety i zestawiając je z negatywnymi opiniami krytyków i późniejszych badaczy, udowadnia, że dla samego pisarza utwór miał znaczenie przełomowe w trzech płaszczyznach: idealistycznego postrzegania sztuki (i kultury); autorskich poszukiwań współczesnego pamiętnikarskiego eposu; postawy wobec najnowszej tradycji narodu, którą cechuje przywoływanie przeszłości w geście żałoby. W ten sposób artykuł nie tylko pozwala zinterpretować na nowo późne dzieła poety, lecz także przybliża zapomnianą kartę refleksji metaliterackiej z lat sześćdziesiątych XIX wieku.
EN
The author of the article presents the late work of Wincenty Pol in a new light, and his starting point is the forgotten poem “Pacholę hetmańskie” (“Hetman’s Infant)”. He analyses the poet’s statements and compares them with the negative opinions of critics and modern researchers in order to prove that for Pol the work had a critical meaning in three dimensions: idealistic perception of art (and culture), the author’s search for a contemporary diarist epic poem, and his own attitude towards the newest tradition of the nation characterized by mourning of the past. Therefore, the article explains late works of Pol as well as introduces a forgotten part of metaliterary reflection of the 1860s.
This article discusses issues concerning press text taboo during the national days of mourning after Józef Piłsudski’s death. The source of the material are texts printed in the daily press dated 13.05-19.05.1935. The article discusses both taboo on the formal plane (euphemisms of death and its various aspects), and taboo on a semantic plane (taboo subjects), as well as relationship between taboo and censorship (individual and institutional/public). Its aim is to collect and to analyse euphemisms connected with mourning in the press discourse in the 1930s, especially euphemisms of lexemes: corpse and death. The article discusses also the rhetorical function of taboo subjects defined in connection with Marshal Piłsudski’s death.
PL
Artykuł omawia zagadnienie tabu w czasie żałoby narodowej po śmierci Józefa Piłsudskiego. Materiał stanowią teksty prasowe drukowane na łamach dzienników (zróżnicowanych światopoglądowo) w dniach 13.05.1935-19.05.1935 r. Omówione zostaje zarówno tabu w planie wyrażania (eufemizmy śmierci i obszarów z nią związanych), jak i tabu w planie treści (tematy tabu), a także relacje między tabu i cenzurą (wewnętrzną i zewnętrzną). Celem artykułu jest zebranie i analiza eufemizmów związanych z żałobą, szczególnie eufemizmów leksemów trup i śmierć, w dyskursie publicystycznym lat 30. XX w. oraz omówienie retorycznych funkcji tematów tabu wyznaczanych w związku ze śmiercią marszałka Piłsudskiego.
“Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent” – areas tabooed linguistically in press texts during the national days of mourning after Józef Piłsudski’s deathThis article discusses issues concerning press text taboo during the national days of mourning after Józef Piłsudski’s death. The source of the material are texts printed in the daily press dated 13.05-19.05.1935. The article discusses both taboo on the formal plane (euphemisms of death and its various aspects), and taboo on a semantic plane (taboo subjects), as well as relationship between taboo and censorship (individual and institutional/public). Its aim is to collect and to analyse euphemisms connected with mourning in the press discourse in the 1930s, especially euphemisms of lexemes: corpse and death. The article discusses also the rhetorical function of taboo subjects defined in connection with Marshal Piłsudski’s death. „O czym nie można mówić, o tym trzeba milczeć”? – obszary językowo tabuizowane w tekstach prasowych z okresu żałoby narodowej po śmierci Józefa PiłsudskiegoArtykuł omawia zagadnienie tabu w czasie żałoby narodowej po śmierci Józefa Piłsudskiego. Materiał stanowią teksty prasowe drukowane na łamach dzienników (zróżnicowanych światopoglądowo) w dniach 13.05.1935-19.05.1935 r. Omówione zostaje zarówno tabu w planie wyrażania (eufemizmy śmierci i obszarów z nią związanych), jak i tabu w planie treści (tematy tabu), a także relacje między tabu i cenzurą (wewnętrzną i zewnętrzną). Celem artykułu jest zebranie i analiza eufemizmów związanych z żałobą, szczególnie eufemizmów leksemów trup i śmierć, w dyskursie publicystycznym lat 30. XX w. oraz omówienie retorycznych funkcji tematów tabu wyznaczanych w związku ze śmiercią marszałka Piłsudskiego.
The aim of this essay is to provide an analysis of Electra’s funeral laments using a psychoanalytical approach. The modern methodology introduced in the research provides a useful conceptual language for in reassessing the ancient categories related to mourning. The essay is an attempt at describing the funeral monologues and their significance for the dramatic structure, as well as an attempt at analysing the motif of mourning. Electra’s behaviour and statements will be analysed in terms of depression and melancholy, whereas her mourning will be depicted as a process of recovery from trauma.
This paper looks at mourning and melancholia, and their ethical implications through the work of Sigmund Freud and mostly Jacques Derrida. The attempt here is to read through Derrida’s auto thanatological oeuvre through questions of fidelity, interminability, impossibility and ethics. In our perpetual struggle as scholars dealing with questions of meaning, existence, loss, life and death this paper tries to navigate the discursive traditions of looking at mourning and melancholia and what their radical potential is or can be where the mourning; melancholic; haunted; living subjects bear an impossible task unto the dead.
The current population of widows and widowers in Poland is over 3.1 mln, whereof the vast majority is over 60 years old. Death of long-life partner is one of the most stressful events in an individual’s life and it may affect their physical and mental condition. At the same time acceptance of spouse’s death and successful adaptation to widowhood are the developmental tasks of late adulthood phase, which may provide to personal growth. A widowed person can decide if they desire to engage new romantic relationship. Research shows that starting a new relationship is motivated by various factors: psychological (e.g. spouse idealization, anxiety), biological (e.g. age, health), and external factors (e.g. socioeconomic situation). New late-life romantic relationships differ from previous stages of life – we can observe changes in: relationship goals, dynamic of the relationship and together activities, although seniors experience passionate love the same way that younger generations do.
The main aim of the article is recognition of current manners of transforming deep sorrow after loss of relatives in literature. The theme of two novels written by polish authors – man and woman – in 21st century is death of their fathers. Preparing for funerals intensifies mourning and recalls memories of the past. Those experiences demand expression. Interpretations of two autobiografical novels prove that the traditional roles for sorrowing after loss which were highly dependent on gender, later in 20th century were submitted certain changes and this process accelerate. Strong feelings of mourning belong to human being, The ways of manifesting those feeligs are connected with gender but are not entirely determined by this category.
This article deals with the issue of support during the period of mourning through a skillful free time management. The authors of the article describe the problems of support, mourning and free time. They point out that a good organization of leisure time can be helpful in dealing with experiences associated with a grieving process. The article provides knowledge about free time, loss and ways of supporting people after the loss. It is also an attempt to draw attention of people working in the area of social welfare to the fact that a well-thought-out, selected and personalized form of free time can help in passing the period of mourning.
PL
Niniejszy artykuł przedstawia tematykę wsparcia w okresie żałoby poprzez umiejętną organizację czasu wolnego. Autorki artykułu opisują problematykę wsparcia, żałoby i czasu wolnego. Wskazują, iż dobra organizacja czasu wolnego może być pomocna w walce z przeżyciami związanymi z przechodzeniem procesu żałoby. Artykuł dostarcza wiedzę na temat czasu wolnego, straty oraz propozycję wspierania osób po stracie. Jest to też próba zwrócenia uwagi osobom pracującym w obszarze pomocy społecznej, iż można pomóc w przejściu okresu żałoby poprzez przemyślane, dobrane i dopasowane do danej osoby formy czasu wolnego.
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