In Darkness We Meet: Annie Ernaux's Account of Care and Dementia.

The complexities surrounding aging, dementia, and care are timely and urgent issues that transcend beyond institutional boundaries, evincing a critical debate on later life across disciplines. In recent decades, there has been a significant rise in literary and cultural representations of dementia and care narratives, which offer valuable insights into the intricate paradigms of living and growing older with this condition. In her memoir I Remain in Darkness (1999), the Nobel Prize winning author Annie Ernaux provides a candid account of her mother's journey through dementia, from its onset to the gradual decline. Ernaux sincerely explores the nuances of dementia and caregiving within both the familial and institutional context, and sheds light on the complex and uneasy relationship between a mother and a daughter. Through the act of witnessing, she embarks on a path of healing, which allows her to confront her past wounds and better navigate the challenges that lie ahead. Ernaux's harrowing account of her mother's dementia and aging is both a confessional piece of writing and a narrative therapy, which reveals the challenges of aging, illness, and unresolved family tensions. Her work illuminates the interconnectedness between the past, present, and future, and shows that illness narratives can act as a catalyst for transformative change, identity formation, and self-reflection. However, Ernaux's confessional memoir also troubles the ethics of life writing and identity issues, and seems to perpetuate the pathologizing medical gaze through the exposure of her mother's vulnerability and intimacy in the face of dementia and care.

Roald Dahl's eerie landlady: A macabre tale of aging.

This article examines Roald Dahl's adult short story 'The Landlady' through the lens of age studies and the horror genre. It explores how different symbolic and gothic textual elements contribute to the narrative of decline and the negative notion of later life. Special attention is given to female aging and dementia, which is presented as a horrifying 'silent killer' embodied in the figure of a witch. In the story, older age is portrayed as a source of horror and evokes a fear of aging that is linked to gradual bodily, mental, and social decline. Although Dahl's tale provides some hints that aging can be empowering and liberating for older women, the portrayal of the landlady proves that older age is enshrined in negative and even grotesque perceptions of later life. The use of horror helps further expose the individual and societal fears of growing older and the challenges of aging. The sardonic and twisted ending of the story also reveals the complexities of both growing up and growing older. Shedding light on Dahl's dark narrative from the perspective of age studies offers new vantage points from which to review the author's literary legacy and rethink the representations of aging in popular literature. Ultimately, the article adds to interdisciplinary approaches to older age and shows how humanities-based perspectives can contribute to expanding research into aging and later life.

Profiguration, Active Ageing, and Creativity: Keys for Quality of Life and Overcoming Ageism.

This article is based on qualitative analysis of interviews and focus groups conducted with participants enrolled in the Senior Programme of the University of Lleida, the City Council of Lleida, and care homes, as well as professional workers in the field of gerontology and related areas. It presents the analysis of interviews focused on the participants' life trajectories, ageing, creativity, self-perception, and quality of life. The study aimed to examine how creativity influences the maintenance and improvement of a sense of wellbeing in older adults, and to reflect on how the perception of old age and of oneself changes through creative activity and active engagement across the life span. The article is framed within a new concept in sociology and the social sciences-'profiguration', which is the key element in the promotion and strengthening of intergenerational interdependence, education, wellbeing, social participation, and active ageing.

Care, Dementia, and the Fourth Age in Erica Jong's Later Work.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This article addresses the representations of dementia and caregiving in the fourth age as depicted in Erica Jong's later-life work. It shows how the experience of parental care leads to the discovery of new ways of human interaction and expressions of personhood. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Framed within literary-cultural age studies, this article shows how humanities-based inquiry can illuminate important aspects of aging and care of the oldest old, which are significant and revealing, but often hidden under the dark shadow of dementia. RESULTS: Newly discovered ways of communication challenge the notion of the loss of agency as they demonstrate that the body itself has the power of creative and intentional capacities and self-expression. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Care-related narratives offer new insights into aging, dementia, and subjectivity that can help pursue a better analysis of the "deep" old age, strengthen collective solidarity, and manage increasing ageism, especially pronounced during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Literary mentorship on the art of living, aging and dying.

This article offers a fresh examination of Mitch Albom's bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie (1997) from a perspective of literary age studies, with a special focus on the concept of later-life mentorship. The classic mentor figure, commonly seen as the archetype of a wise old teacher, is revived through the healing power of an end-of-life narrative. The mentorial relationship between a young man and an old man shows that the personal growth is as an ongoing and ageless process of becoming that can lead to wisdom and a better understanding of aging and living-with-dying. It also reveals that later-life narratives of mentorship are an integral part of the transmission of knowledge and humanistic values to establish solid relationships between generations. Life lessons with Morrie, collected in the form of a memoir, provide readers with important tools to learn to accept life in all its dimensions, and show how literary narratives of growing older can help deconstruct negative western notions of old age and lead to more meaningful lives in all life stages.

To lift or not to lift? The dilemma of an aging face in Erica Jong's later works.

Resistance to physical decay and the desire to keep youthful looks are not new in human history. Today, however, anti-aging discourse intensifies the longing to reshape one's body and stop the ravages of time. Aging is often portrayed as a personal accountability, a sign of moral responsibility, and even disease, which affects older women disproportionately. In order to adjust to contemporary beauty standards, many older women decide to undergo various rejuvenation procedures. However, few studies on the outcomes of such cosmetic interventions in relation to aging, acceptance and self-perception exist. This article addresses American writer Erica Jong's concerns about the aging body and surgical anti-aging interventions. As spokeswoman of the American post-war generation, the author shows how facial rejuvenation procedures generate conflicting feelings, and reminds her readers that older women continue to be doubly marginalized in today's youth- and beauty-driven society.

Revisiting Happiness and Well-Being in Later Life from Interdisciplinary Age-Studies Perspectives.

Important demographic shifts and the so-called 'longevity revolution' have generated profound transformations in social interpretations of old age, an increased interest in age studies and new ideas on how to age well. The majority of current successful ageing models, however, represent rather a prevailing construct in Western societies. Physical and psychosocial well-being and the ability to adjust to the ideals of successful ageing are often seen as an integral part of a good quality in life. Those who do not or cannot follow these lines are often regarded as morally irresponsible and seem to be doomed to have a lonely, unhealthy and unhappy later life. This paper questions the current discourses of successful ageing in terms of healthy and happy living and calls for a reconsideration of more global, integrated and holistic understandings of the process of growing old.