In The Midst Of Winter

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A breathtaking, indispensable collection featuring poetry, fiction, letters, and diaries of the world’s greatest writers on the nature of grief.Death silences not only those it takes, but those it leaves All too typically we can neither express our grief nor express sympathy for the bereaved. In this sensitive collection, loss finds a voice—or several voices—in the poetry, fiction, letters, and diaries of the world's great writers. Here are James Agee, recording the shock of his father's death; William Shakespeare, making poetry of Cleopatra's grief; the Biblical wisdom of The Book of Lamentations; the psychological acuity of Marcel Proust. Here are mourners from classical Rome to eleventh-century China, from the Paiute Indians to present-day Ireland. Arranged in sections that correspond to the stages of mourning, In the Midst of Winter is a volume whose breadth and resonance make it invaluable and utterly unique.