 |
THE ARTFUL OBIT |
The Artful Obit: They’ve been referred to as “biographical haikus”—succinct yet poetic prose that captures the essence of who we are, and how we lived. Given slightly more room to write, they can read like a passage from literature. Always about people from various walks of life—like the bank teller who coached basketball after work or the iconic, macho, mystery writer who died on the same day. When you pick up the newspaper these days, you may notice that some of the most illuminating, poignant and memorable stories are on the obituary page. Freelance writer Marilyn Johnson celebrates the art
of writing obituaries in her recently published book, “The
Dead Beat: Lost Souls Lucky Stiffs and the Perverse Pleasures of
Obituaries.” Ms. Johnson (who writes with humor and passion,
and is unapologetic about what she does) has written obituaries for
Princess Diana, Jacqueline Onassis, Katherine Hepburn, Bob Hope and
Marlon Brando––says that more and more people are
realizing that you don’t have to be a celebrity to have a well
crafted, memorable obituary to publish in newspapers and online.
Possibly because the second wave of baby boomers is already past
50, Ms Johnson confirms that more people are reading obituaries than
ever before. She welcomes the shift that obituary pages have taken
from relative obscurity into their “Golden Age.” |
|
The Obituarian |
|