Pale Fire

When Hazel was young, Shade was offered a lecturing position at the Institute of Preparation for the Hereafter, also known as IPH (or “if”). Shade fundamentally disagrees with the IPH’s position on the afterlife. In his view, reincarnation would be perfectly acceptable so long as he could maintain his consciousness of happiness and pain. If he could no longer experience the joys of life, he would refuse to enter heaven. He wants to believe in an optimistic version of the afterlife, whereas the IPH cautions people to be disappointed by what awaits them after death. The afterlife, the IPH suggests, could be a “boundless void” without memories. It has advice for people who find that they have become ghosts, teaching them how to move through physical objects. The IPH also has advice for those who are reincarnated in a less-than-desirable form and for those who discover that both their first and second wives are present in heaven.

As evidenced by dreams, communication with the dead is difficult. Similarly, learning the final thoughts of a dying person is almost impossible. One of the few certainties about death is that a “rift” will occur, though it is impossible to know what is on the other side of the rift.