A friend tells me that he has written a not-so-positive memorial piece about someone who died recently, and is looking for a label for the essay. It’s not a “eulogy,” because that is generally considered a positive statement.
I swear I have heard a term for a negative commentary on the life of a recently deceased person, but I sure can’t think of it.
Is there a term?
There may be but I don’t know it.
The word should be “malogy”.
Not “dyslogy”?
Bill Maher did a hilarious negative eulogy about Jeffery Dahmer back in the day. He just called it a eulogy, but it was definitely negative!
Not necessarily a eulogy, but what about obloquy?
That is what my dictionary offers. I found myself reaching for “execration” or “excoriation”, but then noted the OP’s “not-so-positive”, which might be a smoldering understatement or might actually rule out genuine condemnation.
John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman coined the term “fuckeulogy” for the Bugle podcast, I think it was on the event of the death of Gadaffi or Bin Laden
A post-roast.
A diatribe?
polemic? philippic?
I’m no linguist, but “eu-” and “dys-” seem to serve as opposites for each other (euphoria, dysphoria), whereas “ben-” and “mal-” are similarly paired up (benevolent, malevolent).
so ISTM the opposite of eulogy would be dyslogy. And indeed, the dictionary entry for dyslogy says:
Orson Scott Card just called it a “Speaking” in Speaker for the Dead. Some people have performed them at actual funerals.
A Speaking isn’t necessarily positive or negative, though. Just truthful.
The word eulogy is of Greek origin, so your assumptions are correct. Mal is not a Greek word, but rather based upon the Latin malus (adv.: male).
Of further note: a eulogy does not have to be delivered about a dead person; it is literally just a speech or writing in praise of a person (the original Greek would mean more or less “good words”).
Not to be confused with elegy.
These two are keepers.
My suggestions:
Detestimony, in the presence of a curpse. (“Curpse” is a steal from Finnegans Wake.)
(If the occasion warrants): An execremation.
(If the occasion warrants): A haranging.
Or, in more modern parlance, a diss-logy …
For a brilliant musical example, dig up Steve Goodman’s “Daley’s Gone”.
“Dyslogy” is a legit word, and the precise structural antonym to “eulogy”. But it’s very rare. Google NGram shows a ridiculously low but non-zero occurrence rate.