Longings for Immortality: Imagining the Afterlife from Gilgamesh to Cyberspace

Author: Jody Pinault

A sweeping exploration of humanity’s enduring fascination with life after death, tracing beliefs about immortality, resurrection, and the afterlife in Western literature, from the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh to Dante's Divine Comedy, through Greek and Roman classics, Jewish and Christian scriptures, all the way to modern scientific investigations of "near-death experiences".

Blending engaging storytelling with scholarly insight, Pinault invites readers on a journey across civilizations and centuries, revealing how our deepest longings for meaning, transcendence, and connection have shaped—and continue to shape—our understanding of what lies beyond this life. Based on a course the author taught for over 20 years at Santa Clara University, Longings for Immortality presents an engrossing and readable introduction to Western literature’s greatest spiritual and philosophical works.

Jody Pinault

Jody Pinault received her Ph.D. in Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.  She has taught at Franklin and Marshall College, Colgate University, Hamilton College, and Santa Clara University. Her publications include Hippocratic Lives and Legends.