4 - The title

[Manuel]

Did you find the title appropriate? Or ambiguous?

[Manuel]

The first time I heard of this book, I assumed it would deal with the murder of Thomas Becket, probably prompted by the similar title of Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot.

I am not the only person confused by the title, as can be seen in some of the reviews this book has got in Goodreads.

Another possible point of contention is the fact that the title of the novel is the same as the title of its last part (Book Nine). Thus the title has no direct relation to the first eight parts.

[Manuel]

The last part of the novel is the part I've liked better. Perhaps Cather thought the same and that's the reason why she gave its title to the whole book.

[Kristi]

It is a striking title. Ten years ago murder mystery came out called "Death Comes for the Deconstructionist." I don't think it actually has anything to do with our book, but the allusion is amusing to me.

[Frances]

When I read Death Comes for the Archbishop in another group I learned a great deal from the online site “Art in Willa Cather’s Fiction.” Cather was deeply affected by the wood engravings of Hans Holbein the Younger, in particular the grouping titled “The Dance of Death.” These woodcuttings depicted many different professions and the scenes that showed how they end in death; one of the panels was “Death Comes for the Bishop.”

If you wish to, look for Polly Duryea’s commentary on Death Comes for the Archbishop or the site that remarks on Hans Holbien the Younger’s engravings called “The Dance of Death.”

[John]

Manuel wrote: "Thus the title has no direct relation to the first eight parts."

I've had several thoughts on how it might relate:

From the day we are born death is coming for us. Many if not most ignore it for the first score or two of life, but it is coming none the less. Living a good life is in part informed by how we reflect the fact of death at the end.

In almost every chapter, there is some aspect of death, in several cases just missing Latour or Joseph. They lived in a world in which death was always "coming," was ever-present, yet accomplished great things.

Finally, there is the Christian tradition of "a good death," which means nearly the opposite of what it tends to mean in medicine and psychology today, but whether this is relevant I can't say until I finish the book, which I haven't yet.

[Jill]

Our daughter, a nurse, has recently switched from a hospital mother-baby unit to a nursing home for retired priests, many experiencing dementia. She has remarked about how deliberately approaching death is treated (of course we read a whole book about this recently).

[Jill]

The "diligence" coming for him is his sharpest (and recurrent) memory from his early life and surely a metaphor for death as well. All Christians, and especially priests, are baptized into Christ' death and called to die to self over and over again. Bishop has to die to his love of beauty and comfort, his native language, family attachments, the close companionship of his vicar, knowing where he is going and how he will get there...