Rahel Rivera Godoy-Benesch

This study examines how selected authors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries write about their creative processes in old age and thus purposefully produce a late style of their own. Late-life creativity has not always been viewed favourably. Prevalent "peak-and-decline" models suggest that artists, as they grow old, cease to produce high quality work. 

Aiming to counter such ageist discourses, the present study proposes a new ethics of reading literary texts by elderly authors. For this purpose, it develops a methodology that consolidates textual analysis with cultural gerontology.

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag

Schweizer Anglistische Arbeiten (SAA)

The Production of Lateness: Old Age and Creativity in Contemporary Narrative

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