ISBN: 978-0-6486054-3-0
first PDF edition
february 2025
cover art: Ali Ben Nekhy & Ghadeer Baqer
فلاغ ١ :Runners
all material copyright of the respective authors
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Preface
bidding an honest, last farewell calls for great courage
and, arguably, a singular sense of clarity
it’s a heuristic message worthy of our careful attention
particularly, if we consider authors and artists who created their own worldviews
for us, facing death head-on
during this ordeal, there’s nothing to lose or hide – over here, every thing matters
it is therefore surprising that no collective study of these existential and
ontological spheres has been undertaken to date
in partnership with philosophers and poets, artists and journalists, and
uncategorisable subjects, mongrel matter fill this lacuna in our poly-genre text below,
the reader will find twenty-five contributions concerned with
– the last words said on the deathbed (e.g. by Oscar Wilde & Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Søren Kierkegaard & G.W.F. Hegel)
– the last words in the works of fiction (e.g. by various dramaturgs & in cinema)
– the last words on death row (by Mansour al-Hallaj)
– spiritual practices preparing one for their dying
– suicide (e.g. David Foster Wallace & Darby Crash)
– suicide notes (e.g. by Kōkichi Tsuburaya & Virginia Woolf)
what is more, many instances of farewell works seek atonement – a paradox of
being and non-being together – pushing the boundaries of our book
specifically, memorial ceremonies (e.g. dedicated to Graham Chapman) and
artefacts (e.g. Tadanori Yokoo’s pictorial requiem for Setsuko Hara & Jon Fosse’s
Morning and Evening) provide conditions to engage in the event of one’s demise
and afterlife
last but not the least, this book is fortunate to host a number of original reflections
trailblazing the folded limits dividing death and life
all in all, through expressing both the knowable and the unknown, our book seeks
a possibility of fragile balance
