Three Fictional Deaths Compared with the Near-Death Experience
Brock Haussamen
Journal of Near-Death Studies December 1, 2000 DOI: 10.1023/a:1007809005581 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Literary analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Three short stories by Leo Tolstoy, Ambrose Bierce, and Katherine Anne Porter |
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key points | Argues that the fictional deaths, while resembling NDEs in elements like bodily distancing and life review, depict dying as lonely and grim, without transcendence, reflecting a modern sensibility that contextualizes interest in NDEs. |
Abstract
This study looks at three popular works of short fiction, by Leo Tolstoy, Ambrose Bierce, and Katherine Anne Porter, in which the main character dies at the end. Some similarities between these deaths and recent near-death experience (NDE) accounts are that the characters experience various kinds of distancing from their bodies, light and darkness play a role, and two of the stories include a final life review. The principal contrast is that dying in these stories is a lonely and mostly grim business, unsupported by a process that transcends the individual or by progress toward an afterlife or otherworld. The comparison helps define the modern sensibility about dying that is part of the cultural context for interest in NDEs.