The ways in which one's relationship with loved ones continues, endures and perhaps even grows after the biological death of that loved one is the basis for this text. Much of the available literature speaks of "healthy" bereavement as meaning letting go of the deceased and moving forward with life. This text challenges that notion. The living, as presented in these chapters, continue to construct social entities of those who have died. Indeed, via the carrying out of wishes in the Will - pursuits, legal claims - or simply attributing certain desires, emotions or choices to the deceased, reconstitutes them as active, even vital, voices even after biological death. Just as life itself, the end of life and death is an interdisciplinary matter. This volume brings together coherent chapters from a worldwide group of contributors with a range of disciplinary perspectives on the meaning attributed to death and to the anticipation of death. A clear psychological theme and focus ties together these perspectives under three conceptual areas: the anticipation of death; the social life of the deceased; the legal embodiment of the deceased.
