Blasted with Antiquity

Old Age and the Consolations of Literature
Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-0-7188-9718-5
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 180 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 284 g

Reihe: Lutterworth Press

Perspectives on the perils and pitfalls of ageing, viewed through the lens of novels, plays and poems from across history.

Given the increasing number of old people, the proliferation of books about old age is hardly surprising. Most of these come from cultural historians or social scientists and, when those with a literary background have tackled the subject, they have largely done so through what are known as period studies. In Blasted with Antiquity, David Ellis provides an alternative. Skipping nimbly from Cicero to Shakespeare, and from Wordsworth to Dickens and beyond, he discusses various aspects of old age with the help of writers across European history who have usually been regarded as worth listening to.

Eschewing extended literary analyses, Ellis addresses retirement, physical decay, sex in old age, the importance of family, legacy, wills and nostalgia, as well of course as dying itself. While remaining alert to current trends, his approach is consciously that of the old way of teaching English rather than the new. Whether 'blasted with antiquity' like Falstaff in Henry IV Part Two, or with the 'shining morning face' of an unwilling student, his accessible and witty style will appeal to young and old alike.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ellis, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Dramen und Dramatiker
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Lyrik und Dichter
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologie: Allgemeines
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations
Note on Referencing
1. Introduction
2. Retirement
3. Ageing, Decrepitude and the Wisdom of the Elders
4. Self-consciousness and Sex
5. Family Matters
6. Leaving One's Mark
7. Will Power
8. Nostalgia
9. Taking Stock
10. Doctoring and Dying
11. Ending Up
12. Postscript: On 'the Stages of Life'
List of Works Cited
Acknowledgements
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ellis, David
DAVID ELLIS is emeritus professor of English Literature at the University of Kent. His many previous publications include a tribute to the Wittgensteinian Frank Cioffi, The philosopher in shirt-sleeves (Bloomsbury, 2017), and Blasted with Antiquity: Old Age and the Consolations of Literature which was published by the Lutterworth Press in 2023.