A Lively Night of Obits
by Krishna Andavolu
OCTOBER 28, 2008 TAGS:
“At some point British obits got cheeky,” said Ann Wroe, the editor of the forthcoming Economist Book of Obituaries and author of many of that publication’s best back-page obituaries, to a rapt crowd at the New York Public Library Monday night.
“It happened in 1985 or 1986,” countered Marilyn Johnson author of The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, trying not to put too fine a point on the date, but rousing the crowd with her odd sense of historicity.
Such was the keen level of discourse at perhaps the most exciting obituary-related event of the year, “Dead from the NYPL,” a panel discussion with Ms. Wroe, Ms. Johnson and Daniel Okrent, the first public editor at the New York Times. The night was moderated, or rather instigated, by the Rilke-quoting gadfly, Paul Holdengräber.
There was a great deal of life bouncing off the mahogany and marbled walls of the Founder’s Room, and Wroe, whose highly anticipated anthology will be reviewed by Obit on Friday, October 31, returned to the refrain that obits, despite their morbid occasion, are about life.
Wroe furthered the thought as she described her aversion to pure chronology in telling life stories. To her, “the facts are not the life.” But rather individual moments, or as photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson would say, “the defining moment” when a life pursuit comes into focus, are of most interest. That, in turn, is the critical decision an obit writer makes when researching and exploring a potential subject.
Wroe’s eyes opened widely when she spoke of her research, or as she described it, the pleasure of “escaping into a different world,” of seeing through another’s eyes—she was reminiscent of John Cusack’s character in Charlie Kauffman’s Being John Malkovich at that moment. But it isn’t the madness of eschatology that inspires her. Wroe articulated time and again throughout the evening that capturing the spirit or the soul of an individual who, like a sparrow in mid-flight carves a path through the air, produces an uncommon joy for writer and reader alike.
That joy, or perhaps the morbid freedom to find joy in obituaries, brought a delightful energy to the occasion. And so did glitterati of the obit world in attendance that weren’t seated on the dais. Bruce Weber, of the New York Times obit page was in the crowd and added to the discussion a few times, mostly to clarify the Times’ policies or lack thereof and to share that the Times has over 1300 obits “in the morgue,” that is to say prewritten for still-alive figures.
Stephen Miller, The Wall Street Journal’s weekly obit columnist, and until recently, obit writer for the New York Sun, sat in the back and was flanked by Amelia Rosner, an active participant on the google group alt.obituaries.
Here were some of the best and brightest in the obit world, gathered in a standing-room-only hall at the New York Public Library. Wine and book signings followed accompanied by the gentle clatter of intellectually excited adults twittering like teenagers.
Mid-way through the panel discussion, Ms. Johnson informed the gathering that the first obituary was probably a note nailed to the door of a pub during the Black Death. If anything, “Dead from the NYPL” confirmed that the form of the obituary is very much alive these centuries later, and perhaps approaching a zenith of talent and appreciation.
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Photo by Peter Foley, Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Obit's Review of Ann Wroe's Economist Book of Obituaries will be published on October 31. Click HERE to sign up for Obit's RSS Feeds. If you love Obits, then register with Obit-mag HERE and get our weekly newsletter and keep up-to-date with news, stories, and more.
Krishna Andavolu is managing editor of Obit.
“It happened in 1985 or 1986,” countered Marilyn Johnson author of The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, trying not to put too fine a point on the date, but rousing the crowd with her odd sense of historicity.
Such was the keen level of discourse at perhaps the most exciting obituary-related event of the year, “Dead from the NYPL,” a panel discussion with Ms. Wroe, Ms. Johnson and Daniel Okrent, the first public editor at the New York Times. The night was moderated, or rather instigated, by the Rilke-quoting gadfly, Paul Holdengräber. There was a great deal of life bouncing off the mahogany and marbled walls of the Founder’s Room, and Wroe, whose highly anticipated anthology will be reviewed by Obit on Friday, October 31, returned to the refrain that obits, despite their morbid occasion, are about life.
Wroe furthered the thought as she described her aversion to pure chronology in telling life stories. To her, “the facts are not the life.” But rather individual moments, or as photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson would say, “the defining moment” when a life pursuit comes into focus, are of most interest. That, in turn, is the critical decision an obit writer makes when researching and exploring a potential subject.
Wroe’s eyes opened widely when she spoke of her research, or as she described it, the pleasure of “escaping into a different world,” of seeing through another’s eyes—she was reminiscent of John Cusack’s character in Charlie Kauffman’s Being John Malkovich at that moment. But it isn’t the madness of eschatology that inspires her. Wroe articulated time and again throughout the evening that capturing the spirit or the soul of an individual who, like a sparrow in mid-flight carves a path through the air, produces an uncommon joy for writer and reader alike.
That joy, or perhaps the morbid freedom to find joy in obituaries, brought a delightful energy to the occasion. And so did glitterati of the obit world in attendance that weren’t seated on the dais. Bruce Weber, of the New York Times obit page was in the crowd and added to the discussion a few times, mostly to clarify the Times’ policies or lack thereof and to share that the Times has over 1300 obits “in the morgue,” that is to say prewritten for still-alive figures.
Stephen Miller, The Wall Street Journal’s weekly obit columnist, and until recently, obit writer for the New York Sun, sat in the back and was flanked by Amelia Rosner, an active participant on the google group alt.obituaries.
Here were some of the best and brightest in the obit world, gathered in a standing-room-only hall at the New York Public Library. Wine and book signings followed accompanied by the gentle clatter of intellectually excited adults twittering like teenagers.
Mid-way through the panel discussion, Ms. Johnson informed the gathering that the first obituary was probably a note nailed to the door of a pub during the Black Death. If anything, “Dead from the NYPL” confirmed that the form of the obituary is very much alive these centuries later, and perhaps approaching a zenith of talent and appreciation.
--
Photo by Peter Foley, Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Obit's Review of Ann Wroe's Economist Book of Obituaries will be published on October 31. Click HERE to sign up for Obit's RSS Feeds. If you love Obits, then register with Obit-mag HERE and get our weekly newsletter and keep up-to-date with news, stories, and more.
Krishna Andavolu is managing editor of Obit.
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