Dear Billy the Kid, nice post you wrote here but I have a slightly different interpretation on the French expression “la petite mort.” First, I think it is not about the feeling of post coitum they are talking about, but rather on the precise moment of orgasm. They lose control, they are going to pass away with the pleasure and that is “la petite mort”, not the way they feel after (and therefore not “le petit mort” that you wrote). It’s typically French to use an expression which might mean something different but is codified to say something explicit and elegant on a subject one wouldn’t dare mention otherwise. I remember my history of music teacher when I was a teenager talking of Monteverdi’s music and words, how climactic passages in the music were described as well with death, and the choice of the word reflecting the finesse of those years. I was just referring to your point on the “petite mort”, but besides that, sex and death are certainly connected in other, philosophical ways.