To tell the story of one's life before one dies. The telling of it is an act, and for anyone whose autonomy is so often diminished, this act takes on its full importance. There is a need to give shape to one's life and to show this shape, which gives it its meaning, to someone else. Once the telling of it has been accomplished, the person seems to be able to let go, and to die.
— Marie de Hennezel, Intimate Death by Marie de Hennezel, Carol Brown Janeway, translator