The eNotes Blog A Class on the Art of the FinalFarewell

A Class on the Art of the FinalFarewell (George Eastmans (co-founder of Eastman-Kodak) suicide note. Eastman shot himself in the heart after suffering from chronic spinal pain which left him partially disabled.) When someone makes the decision to take their own life, often the first thing many people want to know is whether they left a suicide note. Some people, like Eastman, leave just a few words the living are left to ponder; others leave long, detailed letters of regret, pain, and loss. Whatever the method, there is no denying that the final, written words of anyone who has made this decision are compelling. Taking a class  on the composition of suicide notes thoughwell, thats definitely new. But philosophy professor  Simon Critchley of New Yorks the New School  Ã‚  believes there is much to be learned, artistically and rhetorically, from suicide notes. He recently hosted a course called the  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Suicide Note Writing Workshop. One of several classes offered in month-long series of programs called The School of Death, Critchley came up with the idea after hearing about a program called The School of Life in London.   Critchley (my kind of guy) called it   Ã¢â‚¬Å"a particularly nauseating philosophy of self-help.† Critchley realizes it is a dark subject and also a way of mocking creative-writing workshops.   But, in the workshops defense, the professor explained to  The New York Times,   Ã¢â‚¬Å"We’re not mocking suicide. We’re doing this as a way to understand it. And why not be a little insensitive? People are terrified in talking about death.† Fifteen students signed up for the workshop which looks closely at suicide ethics from antiquity to present-day. Suicide notes themselves, Critchley says, are a relatively recent innovation. In antiquity, there was no need to leave a note,† he said. â€Å"It would have been obvious why you killed yourself.† Notes examined include those left by   Adolph Hitler,Virgina Woolf, Kurt Cobain. After analyzing a variety of suicide notes, from both the infamous and ordinary people, the class was asked to write their own last words. They were given just fifteen minutes to do so and the goodbyes had to be contained to a 4 x 6 index card. One woman wrote this for her children: When you inevitably discover those things I kept secret, let these not diminish the reality nor the magnitude of my love for you. It is an interesting way to think about communication, especially since these last words, when not a classroom exercise, come from people who largely failed at communicating.