The Usus Tanatos. The Pataphysics of Death

Petersburg thanatology is an important page of philosophical movements of the second half of the 20th century. Its significance goes far beyond the temporal and geographical boundaries of its existence. The book by the founder of the Association of Thanatologists of St. Petersburg presents texts that reveal the evolution of his views and form the main body of ideas. The importance of A. Demichev's works lies in the fact that he sparked interest in the issue of death during the noticeable death throes of the dominant ideological system and went to the limit on this path, to the point where his own life collided with the death of a close person, where he, as if touching death, sought a language to describe his experience. He created a special necropoetic language, in which, according to A. Demichev, it is appropriate to talk about death, about the Russian cemetery, about the artists 'necrorealists'. His works clarified the philosophical, anthropological, and cultural foundations of modern thanatology, which have outlived their era and taken on a new sound in the 21st century. The book presents works that have become bibliographic rarities.