Theothanatos

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Theothanatos is a 2006 novel by Matt Johnson. The story depicts a moral world after the death of God. The main character receives a letter in the mail informing him that God had died several hundred years before, and the he is invited to attend God's funeral. He travels on foot across the what appears to be Europe and the Middle East to a remote location probably in Indo-China, though, where exactly he travels is never clearly stated. Once he arrives at the funeral, a eulogy given by Friedrich Nietzsche and the Catholic Pope, among others. The novel suggests that humankind can live morally without God.

[edit] Main Character

The way the main character acts throughout the novel suggest that he is mentally unstable, referring to himself in third person only as "Self". He frequently reflects on himself, and asks himself questions, giving himself multiple, dynamic answers. As he travels, he encounters people from different walks of life, from different parts of the world. After meeting new people, he seems to absorb their personalities, which surface later when he reflects on himself.

Some speculate that the main character symbolizes all of humankind. His self-reflections and multiple personalities are really the various people and cultures he absorbs as he travels. By the end of the novel he is the combination of humanity. He returns to his simple life where the story began. The novel ends with 'Self' working in an office with a group of people who resemble those he met on his journey.

[edit] Setting

Where the story takes place is never explicitly mentioned. Though the description of the buildings and people the main character encounters suggest that the story begins somewhere in western Europe and follows the main character as he travels through eastern Europe, the Middle East and India, finally ending in Indo-China. His travel provides insight into the views of god in those parts of the world.