“The Critic’s Notebook,” by the Editors

“The Critic’s Notebook,” by the Editors

Nonfiction: What to Expect When You’re Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife, by Robert Garland (Princeton University Press): Some famous Roman last words: “You too, my son?” (Caesar, to Brutus); “What an artist is dying in me!” (Nero); “Go to the rising sun, for I am already setting” (Marcus Aurelius, asked on campaign for the nightly watchword); “Hell’s teeth, I rather think I’m turning into a god” (Vespasian). Recounted in Robert G…