Imagining Ageing: Literary Explorations of Time and Memory

This 15-hour module investigates the complex and multifaceted portrayals of ageing in contemporary literature through the study of three seminal texts: Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending, Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress, and Andromeda Romano Lax's Plum Rains. This course invites students to explore themes of memory, identity, and the passage of time, offering rich insights into the human condition as it confronts the inevitability of ageing. Through close reading, critical analysis, and comparative discussion, students will gain a nuanced understanding of how contemporary literature navigates the complexities of ageing, providing them with tools to reflect on their own perceptions and societal narratives.

Week 1: Introduction to Ageing in Literature (3 hours)

- Overview of the thematic focus on ageing.

- Discussion on societal perceptions of ageing and their reflection in literature.

- Introduction to the primary texts and their authors.

Week 2: Julian Barnes – The Sense of an Ending (4 hours)

- Detailed reading and analysis of Barnes's novel.

- Exploration of the protagonist Tony Webster’s reflections on his past and the unreliability of memory.

- Examination of how Barnes uses a first-person narrative to explore the psychological aspects of ageing and regret.

- Group discussion on the implications of revisiting and reinterpreting one's own history.

Week 3: Margaret Atwood – Stone Mattress (4 hours)

- Study of selected stories from Atwood's collection, questioning traditional narratives about old age

- Analysis of Atwood’s portrayal of ageing, revenge, and the reclamation of power in later life.

- Consideration of the gothic and fantastical elements in Atwood's work and how they illuminate real-world issues faced by the elderly.

Week 4: Andromeda Romano Lax – Plum Rains (4 hours)

- Exploration of Plum Rains and its futuristic setting.

- Discussion on the intersection of ageing with technological advancements and ethical considerations.

- Examination of character development, focusing on the intergenerational relationships and the concept of synthetic companionship.

- Comparative analysis with the other two texts, highlighting different cultural and speculative perspectives on ageing.

TEXTS (choose one of the following texts, and related critical articles)

Julian Barnes, The sense of an ending, 2011

-       Pier Paolo Piciucco, “The Ageing Confessor and the Young Villain: Shadowy encounters of a mirrored self in Barnes’s the sense of an ending” in Carmen Concilio ed, Imagining Age: Representations of Age and Ageing in Anglophone Literatures, Transcript, 2018, pp.41-59.

-       Maricel Oró Piqueras, “Memory Revisited in Julian Barnes’s s The sense of an ending” Coolabah, n. 13, 2014, pp. 87-95

-       Kaustubh Mishra, “Age, Memory and Identity in Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending”, The Criterion, 12.1. feb 2012, pp. 260-267.

Margaret Atwood, Stone Mattress, 2014

-       Ulla Kriebernegg (2018) ‘Time to go. Fast not slow’: geronticide and the

burden narrative of old age in Margaret Atwood’s ‘Torching the Dusties’, European Journal of English Studies, 22:1, 46-58,

-       Helen Snaith, “Dystopia, gerontology and the writing of Margaret Atwood”, Feminist review, 116, 2017 pp.118-132.

-       Shuli Barzilai, “How far would you go? Trajectories of revenge in Margeret Atwood’s short fiction”, Contemporary Women’s Writing, 11, 3, 2017, pp. 316-335

Andromeda romano Lax, Plum Rains, 2018

-       Silvana Colella, “Technologies of care: robot caregivers in science and fiction”, Humanities, 2023

-       Amelia De Falco, “Towards a theory of posthuman care: real humans and caring robots”, Body and Society, 26, 3, 2020, pp. 31-60

-       Amelia De Falco, “Beyond Prosthetic memory: posthumanism, embodiment and Caregiving robots”, Age Culture Humanities, 3, 2016, pp.1-31.