6 ms·
What Neapolitans understand about death (better than most)
- occamrazor 7y agoDeath announcements on the walls are common everywhere in Italy, not just in Naples. They are a very effective way to let people know when and where the funeral is, better than obituaries in newspapers.
- david927 7y agoIn both, visitors can see the skulls and bones of people who died in the 1600s—a century full of devastations, including the Black Plague and the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano—and didn’t receive a proper burial. The Black Plague was in the mid-1300s. There was a bubonic plague outbreak there in the 1600s, though, which probably caused the confusion.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- RickJWagner 7y agoWhat is the user experience after you die? Ah, that's probably the greatest question of all time.
- DrNuke 7y agoYou just go into some deeeeep sleep and never wake up again?
- scoutt 7y agoSome say you reboot and a new instance of yourself is generated inside another type of container.
- DrNuke 7y agoNot so sure I want to try that, which is exactly the most fundamental conundrum I wanted naughtily to downplay here... ehehe...
- aruggirello 7y agoThe manual states that only a clean exit may result in a new instance. Any core dumps will surely piss off the Great Maintainer.
- mapcars 7y agoTry to imagine how would it be going to sleep forever. Try to imagine how would it be waking up without ever going to sleep. Spend some time in this with full attention, something might change in you.
- nonsapreiche 7y agosmooth and quiet with a dark theme?
- jaclaz 7y agoThe good news being that there are no robo-calls in the afterlife (or so I am told).
- EdwardDiego 7y agoI read the article, never found the bit about what Neapolitans understand about death better than most. If they're trying to say that Neapolitans understand better than most that death is always near, and is an integral part of the human experience, may I recommend travelling further afield and broadening one's experiences? Then you'd find that Neapolitans aren't overly special at all, and that the author is a little excitable.
- jaclaz 7y agoAnd - besides - I know Neapolitans that are "normally" scared of death, some that are "terrified" by it and some that take it as a fact of life (if you prefer fatalistic). Also what could she possibly have got of the (whatever particular) "essence" of Naples and of Neapolitans during a few days visit? In the best case, this is an interview with Mimmo Borrelli : https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimmo_Borrelli https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimmo_Borrelli whose work actually often revolves around death and its significance but that is not in any way exclusively representative of Naples.
- simonebrunozzi 7y agoCan you post a link to the interview?
- jaclaz 7y agoI am sorry, maybe I wasn't clear in my previous post. The actual info in the article evidently largely comes from the encounter with Mimmo Borrelli and what he told her. While it is unlikely (but possible) that the Author may have seen the 1984 movie by Luciano De Crescenzo she cites, it is almost impossible that she knows first hand about the works of Eduardo, and of course the Smorfia is only marginally connected to dead relatives and dreams. The whole piece is IMHO yet another (poor) example of the typical stereotypical article by a foreigner (the twist is that the Author is for once not German or Anglo-Saxon, but Argentinian/Spanish and of Italina descent) that comes to Naples, stays there a few days, knows nothing of the city or of the people, finds something folkloristic talking to a single or a few sources and writes an article on the "curious" way Neapolitans think and live. To be fair, she didn't actually mention the ubiquity of short, mustached, dark complexion men and checkered white/red tablecloths in restaurants, but she went very close to it. The (italian) net is however full of interviews to Mimmo Borrelli, whom - for some reasons - appears to be very popular among the "intellighenzia", here is one, hagiographic as most if not all the other ones: http://www.quartaparetepress.it/2015/07/07/mimmo-borrelli-il-teatro-parla-flegreo-intervista/ http://www.quartaparetepress.it/2015/07/07/mimmo-borrelli-il...
- Dansvidania 7y agoI am from Naples, and we do have a bit of a thing for death, but I doubt the average Neapolitan knows any more than any other average citizen anywhere else. I think people in Naples might, if anything, care and think less about death than your average person. Neapolitan people, for better or for worse, tend to have a "day to day" attitude to life (which contributes to what makes the city a mess)
- gregorygoc 7y agoDoesn’t a mess come from mafia controlling dumpster companies or something like that? By the way, I love this place called pizzeria da Michele. Best pizza in the world.
- inciampati 7y agoThere was a crisis in garbage collection a few years ago, but that seems to have been mostly resolved by political change (effectively, a socialist, progressive, anti-corruption mayor). The problem that the previous poster is referring to is more that people just don't care a lot about things like dirty streets, pollution, noise, chaos, crowds, etc. They are actually super relaxed about things that would cause people in other places to throw fits. But this also contributes to a kind of decadence.
- Dansvidania 7y agoI meant more on an 'essential' level. We have the problems we have, including IMHO the corruption you mention, because (among other things) we tend not to think very much to the future.
- Dansvidania 7y agoOh and Michele makes hands down the most representative pizza of the Neapolitan style. It happens to be my personal favorite too :D
- Deukhoofd 7y agoHaving driven in Naples, I'm not surprised Neapolitans are intimately familiar with death...
- steve76 7y agoTonight we take back the Secondigliano.
- twunde 7y agoTo be fair, for Italians to get a driving license they need to go through a fairly intense driving school (much more intense than in the US). As such, you'll regularly see Italians drive in a "risky" manner because they know the other drivers on the road are more competent AND because their driving skills are actually better
- agumonkey 7y agoI've always wondered if more skilled drivers would equate to low accident/death rates or not.
- EugenioPerea 7y agoMexicans slightly raise one eyebrow.
- natmaka 7y agoThe bibliography cannot be complete without C. Malaparte 'La pelle' ('The Skin') book.
- simonebrunozzi 7y agoObligatory mention: "'A Livella" is the most famous poem on death by one of the most well known Neapolitan actor, Totò. [0] [0]: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27A_livella https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27A_livella
- viggity 7y agoThis is related to the topic, but not this specific article. I used to have a really, really, really tough time with death. I spent far too much time thinking about it, trying to avoid it. There was a show on showtime called "Dead Like Me" (its available for free on prime). It had a profound effect on me, I don't obsess over death anymore and that is a gigantic relief. Hell, I only watched one season 10 years ago, but its stuck with me. I hope this helps anyone that has gone through something similar.
- cathyreisenwitz 7y agoReminds me of this http://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/resources/death-positive-movement http://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/resources/death-positive-...