| Abstract: | One of the dominant motifs by social scientists dealing with issues of loss assumes an upsetting of balance or equilibrium as central to the experience - an upsetting that is in need of "restoration." This article challenges that motif both theoretically and experientially, drawing on autobiographical narrative to navigate the complex terrain of irrevocable loss. Our story tells of the lives of our two children, Aristéa and Kade, and of Kade's death in the depths of a Romanian orphanage. We offer the concept of "melancholy" to suggest that the incongruity or pain that we feel, as a result of Kade's death and our simultaneous struggle to "save" Aristéa, can never be alleviated. |
