Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective

by Sara Munson Deats, Lagretta Lenker

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.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Sara Munson Deats currently holds the title of Distinguished University Professor of English and Co-Director of the Center of Applied Humanities at University of South Florida (USF). Dr. Deats received her B.A. from UCLA and continued her studies, first at Stanford University and later at UCLA, where she received her Ph.D. in 1970. During her tenure at USF, she has served as Director of the Graduate English Program, Chair of the English Department, and Associate Dean of both the Colleges of Arts and Letters and the Graduate School. She has also served as President of the Faculty Senate.