Introduction: "It is when faced with death that we turn most bookish" -- "I never saw or heard the car coming": my close call with death -- "Death itself is a wonderful and positive experience": Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and The wheel of life -- "With autobiography there's always another text, a countertext": Philip Roth and Patrimony -- "Death confers a certain beauty on one's hours": Harold Brodkey and This wild darkness -- "I have never been tempted to write about my own life": Susan Sontag, David Rieff, and Swimming in a sea of death -- "Sleeplessness for me is a cherished state": Edward W. Said and Out of place -- "There is more than one sort of luck": Tony Judt and The memory chalet -- "I never realized dying could be so much fun": Art Buchwald and Too soon to say goodbye -- "Learn how to live, and you'll know how to die": Morrie Schwartz's Letting go and Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie -- "I'm dying and I'm having fun": Randy Pausch and The last lecture -- "Now I cultivate the art of simmering memories": Jean-Dominique Bauby and The diving bell and The butterfly -- "I live in my suffering and that makes me happy": Roland Barthes and Mourning diary -- Conclusion: "alive when I died".