In an experience of near-death, maybe something chemical does take place. I didn't know about Foucault's having had a traffic accident. Here is what Macey writes:
In July 1978 he had been struck by a car as he crossed the rue de Vaugirard. He was flung into the air and landed on the bonnet of the vehicle. Shards of glass were embedded in his face and head and he spent over a week in hospital. Five years later he told a Canadian interviewer that his immediate reaction was a fatalistic acceptance of imminent death, but that it soon gave way to a 'very, very intense pleasure'. It was a beautiful summer evening and the near-death experience became 'one of my best memories'. The pleasure may have been intense, but Foucault spent the next year suffering from bad headaches and bouts of nausea. (131)
Noboru, an architect friend of mine, once told me of his own experience of being hit hardly in the head with a baseball bat and fell unconscious. He actually went through a surge of flooding images from his past and the feeling was exhilarating. Is this the brain's reaction to counter the damage?
But, no, a Parisian rue is not my ideal place to 'crever'. I'd prefer a Tongan coral reef!
