Author: Belinda Bauer

Cites

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  • IN: The Beautiful Dead (2016) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: Look at the beauty that only death can bring. See Medusa’s raft, where the waxen corpses recline careless on the splintered timbers, fists unclenched and eyes closed on the horrors of the world. At peace at last, their faces are serene, while those of the luckless survivors twist in shipwrecked shock. See Death claim his Maiden, his flesh still rotting on his bones. See her turn her head away in modest horror – while one sly arm embraces him … See the two martyrs in the arena as the snarling tiger reaches them. They, too, are beautiful. Calm – even as the first claw punctures the flesh. Their hands are linked in the certain knowledge that the agony of existence will pass and that they will be together on the other side … A great artist knows how to lead us uncomplaining out of this life and into the next. The Old Masters did it with china-white and elegant hands, with lashes closed on pale cheeks – with stoic mourners and tragic heroes. Who wouldn’t want to be remembered thus? Who wouldn’t relish everlasting life in a world that’s kinder than this one? Who wouldn’t want to be so beautiful? Be honest, dear reader. Who wouldn’t rather be dead?
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