How do twentieth-century artists bring forth the powerful reality of death when it exists in memory and lived experience as something that happens only to others? This volume grapples with this paradox, examining literary texts and performance media that include Amiri Barakas Dutchman, Thornton Wilders Our Town, John Edgar Widemans The Cattle Killing, Toni Morrisons Sula and Song of Solomon, Don DeLillos White Noise, and HBOs Six Feet Under.