Abstract:Taking a cue from Jacques Derrida’sGlas, this paper seeks to understand the idea of thanatopraxie or embalming in art. It sees thanatopraxie as a strategy to (en)counter the prevalent idea of a “book” as the repository of the “truth” and the “divine.” It argues that a work of art can only exist in the world by transforming into “what(ever) remains” of a work— a wo—. Thanatopraxie thus, brings down a work from the realm of the transcendental and the divine to the world of banal existence. And, in order to comprehend these maneuverings, this paper looks into “Tithonus” andA Tale of a Tubas texts where the “penetrable openings” are purposely kept open for the transformation of a work (in) to a wo—.

Keywords:thanatopraxie, Derrida, death, threshold, work, wo—

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