Words that console. The role of eulogies in grief processing
Paola Bastianoni, Laura Bertaglia
The elaboration of grief is a social process that passes through the sharing of pain. The experience of the death of a loved one forces the individual to leave a private vision of pain to build new relationships with people who share the memory of the deceased. It is within this space, in the attempt to rework one’s individuality, that the funeral eulogy takes on particular meaning, a narration of the life of the deceased that makes the grieving person once again aware of the value of those who are no longer there and makes it understandable even to the outside world. This delicate process, which finds existence in the empathic relationship with the Eulogy Writer, accompanies those who experience grief in the elaboration of death and a new existence.
Keywords
Mourning, funeral eulogy, pain, empathetic relationship, memory.