Contemporary Narratives of Ageing, Illness, Care

Sako, Katsura; Falcus, Sarah

doi:10.4324/9781003058618

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Said reads the history of the novel in connection with the stages through which the human life span has been organised and conceptualised in Western societies: from birth to youth, from maturity to the late period of life marked by bodily decay and ill health. Although I find the idea of a correlation between the history of the novel as a genre and the human ages problematic—Said himself presents his readers with examples of literary deviations ‘from the overall assumed pattern to human life’ (p. 2)—I would like to stress that the turn of the century has seen a proliferation of fictional works informed by the experience of ageing and produced a subsequent rise in critical interest (Aghacy, 2020; Concilio, 2018; Hobbs, 2016; Sako, 2022; Taberner, 2013). du Toit's (2013) discussion of ageing in literature considers a number of novels published between 2000 and 2011 in French by Hélène Cixous, Michel Houellebecq, Pierre Jourde, Yasmina Reza, and François Weyergans, and in English by J. M. Coetzee, Lodge, and Roth.…”

Section: Dialogism Ageing and Global Anxietiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel for an ageing population? Masculinity and demographic shift in David Lodge'sDeaf Sentence(2008)

Rossoni

2023

Literature Compass

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This article examines David Lodge's novel Deaf Sentence (2008), which focuses on the life of Desmond, a retired professor of linguistics. I argue that this text offers a standpoint through which readers can visualise the global phenomenon of population ageing and address the question of global responsibility. I look at Deaf Sentence within the tradition of the Bakhtinian polyphonic novel and through the lens of the campus novel that Lodge discusses in his critical writing. The analysis of dialogism and self‐reflexivity illuminates the reverberations of global ageing on the life of Desmond, situating questions of wellbeing and demography within a narrative perspective. Detailing their struggles with isolation, incontinence and erectile dysfunction, the narration of Desmond and his father growing older sheds light on the limitations of biomedical scripts for older men based on bodily control and sexual performativity. Considering the tension of biomedical discourses and gender expectations informing the cultural construction of ageing in the global North, I contend that Lodge's writing exposes the limits of the neoliberal ideals of self‐sufficiency and individual responsibility at the heart of the notion of successful ageing. Echoing Desmond's self‐reflection, Deaf Sentence offers its reader a standpoint through which to reflect on his problematic participation in the neoliberal, patriarchal regimes that marginalise him. Interpreting the novel as a space for deconstructing the ideal of an autonomous and independent subject postulated by neoliberal discourses, I read Deaf Sentence as an invitation to its readers to embrace their own vulnerability, fostering ethics of care towards themselves and the other.

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Section: Dialogism Ageing and Global Anxietiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel for an ageing population? Masculinity and demographic shift in David Lodge'sDeaf Sentence(2008)

Rossoni

2023

Literature Compass

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Technologies of Care: Robot Caregivers in Science and Fiction

Colella

2023

Humanities

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In the field of elderly care, robot caregivers are garnering increased attention. This article discusses the robotisation of care from a dual perspective. The first part presents an overview of recent scholarship on the use of robots in eldercare, focusing mostly on scientific evidence about the responses of older adults and caregivers. The second part turns to narrative evidence, providing a close reading of Andromeda Romano-Lax’s Plum Rains (2018), a speculative novel set in Japan in 2029, which explores the implications—ethical, affective, social—of communities of care that include non-human agents. My argument is twofold: (1) although science and fiction operate according to different models of knowledge production, considering narrative insights alongside scientific ones can enlarge our understanding of the complexities of robotic care; (2) hitherto overlooked in literary studies, Plum Rains deserves attention for its nuanced representation of a hybrid model of care, which does not discard robotic assistance on the basis of humanist arguments, nor does it endorse techno-solutionism, reminding readers that the fantasy of robots that care is fuelled by the reality of devalued human care work.

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Creating and Reliving the Moment: Using Musical Improvisation and Care Aesthetics as a Lens of Connection and Self-Expression for Younger People Living with Dementia

Dowlen,

McPherson,

Swarbrick

et al. 2024

IJERPH

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Musical improvisation is a generative process of spontaneously creating music ‘in the moment’. For people with young onset dementia, musical improvisation provides an extended opportunity for creative self-expression and connection to one’s own body and life story. Using visual research methods, including video elicitation interviews, this paper explores the ‘in the moment’ musical experiences of five people living with young onset dementia who took part in a 15-week improvised music-making programme (Music in Mind). We frame the exploration of the group’s musical experiences through the emerging lens of ‘care aesthetics’—a concept that identifies the sensory relations and embodied practices between two (or more) people in a caring relationship. In the context of this analysis, we look to the caring practices by, with, and between people living with dementia, their family members, and the musicians who lead the programme and the relationship of these practices to feelings of self-expression and meaningful connection. Musical improvisation has the potential to support the psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing of people living with young onset dementia. In applying a lens of care aesthetics, it is possible to observe the micro-level experiences of people living with dementia and their family carers.

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Contemporary Narratives of Ageing, Illness, Care

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

A novel for an ageing population? Masculinity and demographic shift in David Lodge'sDeaf Sentence(2008)

A novel for an ageing population? Masculinity and demographic shift in David Lodge'sDeaf Sentence(2008)

Technologies of Care: Robot Caregivers in Science and Fiction

Creating and Reliving the Moment: Using Musical Improvisation and Care Aesthetics as a Lens of Connection and Self-Expression for Younger People Living with Dementia

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