The Doom and Gift of Men: Stories of Death and the Desire for Immortality

“Do not fear death, but rather the unlived life. You don't have to live forever. You just have to live.” - Tuck Everlasting

 

In this episode, Rachel and Phoebe explore a variety of stories that explore the desire for immortality, and the challenge of embracing the reality of death. Beginning from perhaps a surprising starting point, the teen fantasy film Tuck Everlasting, we move into the depictions of the temptations to grasp eternal life in J.R.R. Tolkien’s work and in C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew. We draw out the parallels to the conceptions of unfallen Man in the Bible. We also discuss how we need to embrace the time that is given us, not to grasp on to our youth but to look forward to the future, both in this life and the next.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

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Works Mentioned

Tuck Everlasting (2002)

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Leaf by Niggle by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Tolkien’s Modern Reading by Holly Ordway

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter

About Time (2013)

‘"The Gift of Death": Tolkien's Philosophy of Mortality’ by Grant C. Sterling

Groundhog Day and the Meaning of Time, Born of Wonder podcast

 

What we’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes by Mollie Panter-Downes

The Thing about Austen podcast

Rachel: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)