Deep in the underground: The inquiry into the realm of the shadowed.

Author: (French) Ragon
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Just as people prove the soul's permanent disappearance, it reappears. We can regard the emergence of the soul as a ghostly return, these electrons wandering at night, passing through bodies or matter, finally heading toward the planets. This is the unexpected encounter between physics and metaphysics. In recent years, many books on the history and sociology of death have been published, but there are still no books discussing the architecture, decoration, and urbanization of cemeteries. Michel Ragon has devoted over a decade to this topic, collecting a vast amount of material. In The Underworld's Depths—Inquiries into the Realm of the Dead, the author points out that tombs are the deceased's second home, and cemeteries are the ideal reflection of cities. From ancient cemeteries located by roadside to medieval cemeteries surrounding churches, Michel Ragon takes us to the natural regenerationist cemeteries of the 18th century, the museum-cemeteries of the 19th century, and finally into modern cemeteries increasingly characterized by "complexes." What is even more astonishing are the chapters with functionalist and death-related themes: the chaos of funeral rituals during the French Revolution, the plan to exile deceased Parisians to the Ottoman Quarter, the promotion of cremation to save land, railway stations holding funerals, and morgues in modern hospitals equipped with air conditioning. The Underworld's Depths—Inquiries into the Realm of the Dead has naturally become a historical book on burial customs across different eras and countries, involving sociology, politics, and metaphysics. The tomb decorations as seen by Dante, Swedenborg, and others, the architectural styles of the afterlife, the scenes of torture on execution grounds, the poems on 18th-century tombstones; the worship of bones and holy relics; the preservation and mummification of corpses; ghosts (homeless wandering souls); funeral items, and buildings for commemorating the deceased. Michel Ragon's book leaves readers both chilled and amazed, but its rigor makes it a true encyclopedia on the theme of "the space of the dead." Only in transitional spaces, in such moving symbols, does the travel space persist: traveling through time and space, traveling through the universe and non-physical spaces. Aren't the homeless wandering souls not electrons searching for new bodies, new homes? The afterlife architecture is not an infantile paradise or purgatory, but urban spatial planning. From this perspective, the space of the dead is a complete space because it merges with the space of life. —Michel Ragon A sociological, political, philosophical, historical, and customs history of burial cultures across different eras and countries, an encyclopedia that bridges the spiritual connection between the living and the dead. It is a chilling yet utterly gripping book that was destined to become a classic the moment it was written. —Alban Michel, France Publisher In recent years, many books on the history and sociology of death have been published, but there are still no books discussing the architecture, decoration, and urbanization of cemeteries. Michel Ragon has devoted over a decade to this topic, collecting a vast amount of material. In The Underworld's Depths—Inquiries into the Realm of the Dead, the author points out that tombs are the deceased's second home, and cemeteries are the ideal reflection of cities. From ancient cemeteries located by roadside to medieval cemeteries surrounding churches, Michel Ragon takes us to the natural regenerationist cemeteries of the 18th century, the museum-cemeteries of the 19th century, and finally into modern cemeteries increasingly characterized by "complexes." What is even more astonishing are the chapters with functionalist and death-related themes: the chaos of funeral rituals during the French Revolution, the plan to exile deceased Parisians to the Ottoman Quarter, the promotion of cremation to save land, railway stations holding funerals, and morgues in modern hospitals equipped with air conditioning. The Underworld's Depths—Inquiries into the Realm of the Dead has naturally become a historical book on burial customs across different eras and countries, involving sociology, politics, and metaphysics. The tomb decorations as seen by Dante, Swedenborg, and others, the architectural styles of the afterlife, the scenes of torture on execution grounds, the poems on 18th-century tombstones; the worship of bones and holy relics; the preservation and mummification of corpses; ghosts (homeless wandering souls); funeral items, and buildings for commemorating the deceased. Michel Ragon's book leaves readers both chilled and amazed, but its rigor makes it a true encyclopedia on the theme of "the space of the dead."