La Petite Mort

The French have a phrase, La Petite Mort, literally, The Little Death.  While the phrase sometimes refers to a person’s reaction to trauma or tragedy, a la “they ‘died a little’ on the inside”, and at least one thinker and notable literary scholar has asserted that La Petite Mort is an appropriate way to describe the spiritual climax which should accompany the completion of a great work of literature; most often the phrase is used in reference to sexual climax, orgasm, or the euphoric moments which follow it.  Lingual/Cultural examinations and Freudian analyses aside, this is all I really have to say about this particular phrase…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=373V0vJNN0M