The Body and Mortality

The body is depicted as vulnerable, decaying, and subject to disease (tuberculosis, phthisis), with poems like 'I' (Small Elena) and 'Costa Magic' focusing on physical suffering, death, and the grotesque materiality of life.

The poem directly challenges the dichotomy of life and death, reframing existence as pure activity without decline or finality.

The poem centers on the physical agony of childbirth and the brink between life and death, with the body as a site of intense sensation and transformation.

The chapter dwells on death, invalidism, and the decaying body, from the 'collection of death-beds' to Cesira's fatal illness.

The chapter dwells on invalidism, the body's decay, and the process of dying, treating death as a hobby and Rigor Mortis as a moment of purification.