The Martlet

Obituary writer may seem like a macabre profession, but UVic’s new guest lecturer takes a positive approach to life on the dead beat.

“I am not a mourner; I’m a journalist,” said Sandra Martin, who has been the Globe and Mail’s chief obituary writer for the last five years, and is this year’s Harvey Stevenson Southam lecturer in journalism and non-fiction.

A biography about the recently deceased is captivating, not because of its dark undertone, but because it is informative and interesting, Martin said.

“It’s a good story. It’s a narrative.”

Martin had been working for the Globe as a writer of editorials and then features for arts since 1998, when a position for a full-time obituary writer opened up. She was intrigued because it would allow her to learn a broad range of subjects.

“And there’s a lot of risk in it too,” she said, “because you never can predict when someone is going to die.”

Since that time she has written about a variety of individuals, from literary icons such as Mordechai Ritchler, to personal friends.

Although her job is heavy with emotional content, Martin said it is important to not let it influence her ability to create a balanced, contextual picture of a person’s life.

“It’s often very sad,” she said. “And what is happening is the family and the friends and the colleagues are letting you share a moment of personal grief. And I think you have to respect that.”

Getting the facts right is also a challenge, particularly when a subject has not had an entirely wholesome past. Martin said that occasionally people get angry with her about for reporting an unattractive fact about their late loved-one, but she understands that it’s easier to be upset with her than the deceased.

“You always have to tell the truth as you see it,” she said.

As this year’s Southam lecturer, Martin will lead WRIT 314, Changing Perspective, which focuses on biographical writing in a digital age. She will also present a free lecture, “From Last Rites to the Blog of Death: The Evolving Ethos of Obituaries in the Internet Age,” at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 28 in the David Lam Auditorium (MacLaurin Building, room 144).

Technology is having a huge impact on the way obituaries are written, and people can now write their own obituaries and put them on the Internet, she said.

In addition to technology, the class and lecture will concern such topics as the history of obituary writing and its literary function, and ethical dilemmas that face those who write about the deceased.

Martin’s students will also do practical work using the narrative form, and they will explore different ways of storytelling while insisting on journalistic standards.

Martin said she sees her profession as poignant because, as Canada’s population ages, an increasing number of people will be interested in reading obituaries.

“The stories of others say something about our times,” said Martin. “The obituaries themselves are a history lesson. People have always said that journalism is the first draft of history.”