The Living & The Departed

what dost Dillard hath to do with Scorsese?

Annie Dillard’s sprawling description of the settlement of the Pacific Northwest opens with the gruesome description of Ada Fishburn’s son, Charley, dying. Martin Scorsese’s ramming account of mob movement closes with the funeral of Billy Costigan. both Charley and Billy perish before they ever live.

more directly, though, both pieces regurgitate the Old Testament narrative: "…and then he died" (Gen 5). both pieces swiftly introduce death as an unavoidable consequence of life, but The Departed treats it more tritely. there’s something to these titles…The Living emphasizes what was lost, The Departed the inevitable. The Living grieves over Gen 5, The Departed glories in Gen 3.

I love both works. both reveal their creator’s brilliance. despite their "age" (1992 and 2006, respectively), I would encourage you to devour them. in this duel, however, the advantage goes to Annie. the book rumbles with quotable insights and nods to the Pentateuch. if you want a quick tour of its grandeur, read Eva’s (brief) review she wrote for a class at Dallas Seminary.

one particular note still hums in my mind from Dillard: "A child’s death was a heartbreak–but it was no outrage, no freak, nothing not in the contract, and not really early, just soon" (p. 151). a masterful way to mourn the dead without giving honor to death. death is the gravest insult ever conceived, and it will be reversed for the living who departed.