Die Your Own Death

Walt Whitmans Existential Democracy

How Walt Whitmans philosophy of death prepares the soul for freedom and equality

Humans fantasize about immortality. Billionaires dabble in cryonics, politicians build monuments to themselves, and writers donate their papers to libraries. In Die Your Own Death, Jack Turner argues that the quest for immortalityliteral or symbolicis politically destructive. He does so through a meditation on the work of Walt Whitman. Whitman held that democracy prepares individuals to die their own deathsfree of fear, resentment, and illusion. In Whitmans existential democracy, accepting death strengthens freedom and equality. And yet, Turner finds, Whitman only half succeeded in forging a democratic philosophy of death. As Whitmans thought evolved in response to changing ideas about nation, race, and empire, he encouraged citizens to seek immortality through racial imperialismthe expansion of white