Buried or Cremated?

The dead sometimes get in the way. The editors of the Paris weekly Le Figaro Litteraire recently called attention to the large area of French land occupied by cemeteries. The British, said the magazine, often use cremation as an alternative to cemeteries, but the Roman Catholic Church, which has a good bit to say about French burial practices, is steadfastly opposed to it.* Then the weekly asked some distinguished French intellectuals: 1) Should the church permit cremation? 2) Would you rather be cremated or buried?

Only one man, Author Jean Schlumberger, came out in favor of cremation. His reason: "To leave the body of someone you love to rot . . . seems so horrible that I should much prefer the cold but short ceremony of the crematory."

For the rest, a few thought the church should permit cremation, but for himself each preferred an old-fashioned burial. Sample reasons:

Poet Francis Ponge: "Long live the agile and glossy worm, the agent of time, clothed in energy from the food of our bodies!"

Novelist Marcel Jouhandeau: "[In a decision like this], only one thing really matters. That is tradition. I was born in the tradition of the Catholic religion . . . and I am resigned, therefore, to being liturgically devoured by worms. Similarly, if I had died at Athens, in the 5th century before Christ, I should have been quite pleased to burn up on the funeral pyre. Even today, at Delhi, I would happily be put to ashes, with the exception of my navel, which I would voluntarily bequeath. Forgive me for not revealing to whom."

Poet Paul Claudel: "I believe that I shall have the strength to turn down the seductive prospect of cremation. The question reminds me of the story about a British statesman whose mother-in-law had died in Argentina. He received a cable asking what should be done with the body--'Bury her or cremate her?' He cabled back: 'Both. Take no chances.' "

* In a letter to the weekly, a Catholic priest quickly pointed out that the church forbids cremation, not because it interferes with the resurrection of the body (which would involve a denial of the omnipotence of God), but because burial is sanctioned by long church usage.

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