The Importance of Escorting the Dead

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I think many people would view this as an appropriate philosophy for thinking about death, dealing with death. We are obliged to write news Obits not only of the great heroes of history, but also the great villains. And in those cases, you don't have a warm fuzzy feeling. You feel like you want to go home, take a shower and have a good stiff drink afterwards. But it's part of the job. It has to be done right.

The stereotypical obituary is a formulaic recitation of facts — dry, boring, and without craft. But Margalit Fox has shown the genre can produce some of the most memorable and moving stories in journalism. Exploiting its “pure narrative arc,” Fox has penned over 1,200 obituaries, covering well-known and obscure subjects with equal aplomb.

In her conversation with Tyler Cowen, Fox reveals not only the process for writing an obituary, but her thoughts on life, death, storytelling, puzzle-solving, her favorite cellist, and how it came to be that an economist sang opera 86 times at the Met.

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