| Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective Contributor(s): Deats, Sara Munson (Editor), Lenker, Lagretta Tallent (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0275964795 ISBN-13: 9780275964795 Publisher: Praeger OUR PRICE: $94.05 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 1999 Annotation: Viewing artistic works through the lens of both contemporary gerontological theory and postmodernist concepts, the contributing scholars examine literary treatments, cinematic depictions, and artistic portraits of aging from Shakespeare to Hemingway, from Horton Foote to Disney, from Rembrandt to Alice Neale, while also comparing the attitudes toward aging in Native American, African American, and Anglo American literature. The examples demonstrate that long before gerontologists endorsed a Janus-faced model of aging, artists were celebrating the diversity of the elderly, challenging the bio-medical equation of senescence with inevitable senility. Underlying all of this discussion is the firm conviction that cultural texts construct as well as encode the conventional perceptions of their society; that literature, the arts, and the media not only mirror society's mores but can also help to create and enforce them. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Family & Relationships | Life Stages - Later Years - Literary Criticism |
| Dewey: 305 |
| LCCN: 98-41089 |
| Lexile Measure: 1400 |
| Physical Information: 1.05" H x 6.44" W x 9.51" (1.29 lbs) 272 pages |
| Themes: - Generational Orientation - Elderly/Aged |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Viewing artistic works through the lens of both contemporary gerontological theory and postmodernist concepts, the contributing scholars examine literary treatments, cinematic depictions, and artistic portraits of aging from Shakespeare to Hemingway, from Horton Foote to Disney, from Rembrandt to Alice Neale, while also comparing the attitudes toward aging in Native American, African American, and Anglo American literature. The examples demonstrate that long before gerontologists endorsed a Janus-faced model of aging, artists were celebrating the diversity of the elderly, challenging the bio-medical equation of senescence with inevitable senility. Underlying all of this discussion is the firm conviction that cultural texts construct as well as encode the conventional perceptions of their society; that literature, the arts, and the media not only mirror society's mores but can also help to create and enforce them. |