Book - Haikus from the Threshold of Death: In the Light Calm I Leave for the Other World, P.Reboul

Author: Pierre Reboul

Publisher: Sully Eds

Publication Date: 05/17/2024

Collection: Le Prunier

Number of pages: 192

Format: 14 x 21.50 cm

The "poem before death" is a literary tradition present in different Far Eastern cultures, particularly in China, Korea and Japan. It is around Japanese haiku-type poetry representative of this tradition, and this ritual, that this work develops. This haiku from the threshold of death, full of detachment, gravity, appeasement of human passions and attachments, expresses self-mourning with an extreme economy of feelings. It addresses a final message to the living, the ultimate recipients, and constitutes the supreme relational experience. Humor is sometimes present; sometimes a veiled emotion shines through, but in an extremely restrained, allusive or metaphorical form. The work explores the different registers in which these poems are expressed and the images they use. It constitutes a true anthology, citing more than 200 of these poems, mostly by Japanese authors.
The "poem before death" is a literary tradition present in different Far Eastern cultures, particularly in China, Korea and Japan. It is around Japanese poetry of the haiku type representative of this tradition, and this ritual, that this work develops. This haiku from the threshold of death, filled with detachment, gravity, appeasement of human passions and attachments, expresses self-mourning with an extreme economy of feelings. It addresses a final message to the living, the ultimate recipients, and constitutes the supreme relational experience. Humor is sometimes present; sometimes a veiled emotion shines through, but in an extremely restrained, allusive or metaphorical form. The work explores the different registers in which these poems are expressed and the images they use. It constitutes a true anthology, citing more than 200 of these poems, mostly by Japanese authors. The author Pierre Reboul presents himself here in a dual affiliation. A lover and author of haiku, he recently published a final work with Éditions Sully entitled "Un désir de haïku" devoted to the analysis of the forms of this type of poetry. Furthermore, for many years, he has been an active player in the French palliative care movement and, as such, the author of numerous articles and books on listening and supporting people at the end of their lives and their families.