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Blasted with Antiquity: Old Age and the Consolations of Literature

Ellis, David G. (2023) Blasted with Antiquity: Old Age and the Consolations of Literature. The Lutterworth Press, 180 pp. ISBN 978-0-7188-9718-5. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:101465)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
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Abstract

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.

Item Type: Book
Subjects: P Language and Literature
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of English
Depositing User: David Ellis
Date Deposited: 30 May 2023 15:07 UTC
Last Modified: 31 May 2023 11:01 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/101465 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Ellis, David G..

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