In Stock
Blasted with antiquity
Paperback
€29.99
Collect 89 Reward Points
- Free Delivery from
- This Book Is Available Online Only
- Book Synopsis
- Perspectives on the perils and pitfalls of ageing, viewed through the lens of novels, plays and poems from across history. 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.
- About The Author
- DAVID ELLIS is emeritus professor of English Literature at the University of Kent. His many previous publications include a tribute to the Wittgensteinian Frank Cioffi, The philosopher in shirt-sleeves (Bloomsbury, 2017), and Blasted with Antiquity: Old Age and the Consolations of Literature which was published by the Lutterworth Press in 2023.
- Product Details
-
- ISBN
- 9780718897185
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Lutterworth Press, (25 May 2023)
- Number of Pages
- 180
- Weight
- 489 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 152 x 228 x 15 mm
- Categories: