Writing Good-bye to Loved Ones - Professor Jeffrey Berman, University of Albany

In a return visit to the Museum, Professor Berman will discuss his teaching on grief as well as his new book, Mad Muse: The Mental Illness Memoir in a Writer's Life and Work.

To deal with the loss of his wife in 2004, Jeff decided to share his grief with students in a classroom. The resulting course - which influenced his book, Dying to Teach: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Learning (State University of New York Press, 2007) examines mourning in books including the Book of Job, Wuthering Heights, and A Farewell to Arms. Students also write about the death of loved ones and even their own deaths. Jeff believes that the grieving includes joy as well as sorrow and that those feelings must be expressed.