Fasting in Film and Literature

Shimada’s novella, “A Diary of a Mummy,” is based on a real-life account. In remote terrain, a hunter discovers the mummified corpse of a middle-aged man. He also discovers a diary, kept with macabre precision by the man as he starved himself to death. Shimada’s work has since been made into a film by the acclaimed Swiss director, Peter Liechti. Clips from this film, “The Sound of Insects: Record of a Mummy,” will be shown, along with Shimada’s discussion of fasting, death, and its representation in literary and religious traditions (topics range from Moses and Christ to Buddha and Gandhi).