Unraveling the Dark Comedy of Mortality: Why Annabelle Gurwitch’s New Memoir Will Change How You See Life and Death
Her introduction is not one to be skipped. I learn about zozobra, a Spanish word for shipwreck, coined by Mexican philosopher Emilio Uranga, which gives Gurwitch the apt vocabulary to describe the “precariousness” she felt as an asymptomatic patient, freshly handed a terminal lung cancer verdict. I also learn about her embracing of French author Georges Perec’s “infra-ordinary,” which means to “defamiliarize the familiar” in order to seize the day, although she tells us straight-facedly that it is indeed possible to “carpe too much diem.” She takes inspiration from Henri Matisse, who, diagnosed at seventy-one with a terminal disease, created the famous ‘Blue Nudes’ during the period he dubbed his second life. In communion with him, Gurwitch unleashes her “real self” in the “after” and leaves no stone unturned to get the best possible treatment, put her finances in order, and above all to live with purpose and joy.
Post Comment