Timeless obituaries

In Ancient Greek, the word Sèma, also meaning sign, was used to refer to the burial mound. These two words are identified because the tomb is a «sign». Unmistakable. It can therefore be said that, in almost every culture, following death there is a «semantic» sequence that aids in identifying those who are no longer with us and in keeping their memory alive in the remaining ones. The obituary, a sequence of words projected into the modern world, has become - thanks to the invention of printing - the written record that fixes the remembrance of the dead and, as the Greek Sicilian scholar Salvatore Nicosia said, represents for the living an «instrument of perpetuating men, events, values and affections».

In the days following the unexpected death of the mayor of Lugano, Corriere del Ticino published over 300 obituaries. A figure that has no comparison in the recent history of our newspaper. Another «signal», many have remarked, of the immense popularity of Marco Borradori, inside and outside the borders of the city where he was leader for 8 years.

But closer reflection leads to some other considerations. Starting with the question of what the obituary is, nowadays. What significance it has. And the reason why it continues to be published.

The role of paper

In the pre-Christian world, memorialisation was not for everyone. For instance, epitaphs were subject to city regulations. In Sparta, a law of Lycurgus granted inscriptions only to those killed in war or to women who died in childbirth.

In the more «democratic» Athens, however, the use of funeral inscriptions was so widespread and exaggerated that, according to Plato, it would be necessary to limit their length to four verses, the largest possible space that, according to the philosopher, could be dedicated to the praise of a human being.

The public announcement of the deceased through obituaries or - as happens in Italy - through the affixing of posters in public spaces, is the way to make the mournful event known to the community. A necessity, especially in medium and large city areas, where social relationships are fragmented and often spontaneous. This is something that endures even in the hyper-connected and digital world, where new and more technological rituals could have established themselves.

This is already a first point of reflection. The obituary, the memorial entrusted to the newspaper, resists. It forces itself, almost. The forms of collective mourning «social» are not lacking and are frequented: just think of the Facebook walls of the profiles of those who die. Yet they do not have the same force as obituaries. They are paid for. And, above all, they are printed.

The modern Spoon River

From the Palatine Anthology to Spoon River, the temporal step is very long. But the sense does not change. Necrological discourse has always moved between «simple and brief forms» of writing, linked to the depiction of death, and extra-literary collective functions. The obituaries are a kind of public map on which it draws the social geography of a territory, whether large or small. A map through which, by reading with a little attention, one can trace the life of the deceased, his network of friendships, the degree of authority, even his weaknesses. A map, in the case of the mayor of Lugano, on which the guidelines of the political-institutional-associative universe of the city and the canton have also been traced.

«Being there», in the obituary pages, is important: and not only to testify the affection for those who died prematurely and the closeness to the family. As writer Giacomo Papi said, «at the center of life - and therefore death - there are personal relationships. Therefore, the ‘political’ function of the obituary» is as «obvious» as it is important. «Most deaths, fortunately, compact society, rather than divide it. When a famous person leaves, on the obituary pages of the newspapers an invisible struggle goes on to be present and visible, and to place one’s name» next to that of the dead person. An additional form of tribute, which gives the person who has left an additional capacity: to keep opposites together, to smooth out edges, to recompose. And reading Marco Borradori’s obituaries, it is easy to understand what his main quality was: being able to talk to anyone, always avoiding prejudice, favouring dialogue.

Snapshot in focus

There is another element that emerges strongly from the reading of the 300 or more announcements dedicated to the memory of the mayor of Lugano. And it is, inevitably, related to style. To the words. To the «rhetoric» of death and life. The short texts of the obituaries are children of cultures, visions, moods very different from each other. The writer, of course, wants to make public his pain and express his condolences. But also get some attention. To be read. In this sense, they reward the moments lived together, the most intimate circumstances, the sharing of passions and interests. The discourse of the epigram, the ancient one carved in stone as well as the contemporary one printed in the newspaper, always focuses on three points: the missing person; those who remember him/her with a name, a verse, a fragment of shared existence; and the reader. The idea is that words can overcome absence through remembrance. Words alone can extend memory in time.

Talking about death, therefore, means at the same time talking about life and its meaning, alleviating the anguish that explodes at the disappearance of a friend, of a family member: a sudden loss that refers to the irretrievable loss of a part of oneself. To do this in a few or very few lines is difficult. It requires us to go straight to the essential, to eliminate frills and to redefine «even the boundaries of the tellable and the unspeakable, that is, of modesty».

Alden Whitman, the most famous of the Times obituary writers, said: «The obituary is not a complete biography, nor is it a scholastic essay; it is not a tribute and is only in part a sketch of a personality. A good obituary has the qualities of a well-focused snapshot; it must be as dense, as measured, as good as possible.... If the snapshot is clear, the viewer will draw a quick orientation to the subject, his successes, his flaws, and his timing. Composing the snapshot...takes time and patience, you have to dig in, and finally, it takes some skill with words».