Gray Matters: Finding Meaning in the Stories of Later Life (Global Perspectives on Aging) - Softcover

Lem, Ellyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1978806310 ISBN 13: 9781978806313

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2020

Synopsis

Winner of the 2021 Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activity Award from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Finalist for the 2021 American Book Fest Best Book Awards

Aging is one of the most compelling issues today, with record numbers of seniors over sixty-five worldwide. Gray Matters: Finding Meaning in the Stories of Later Life examines a diverse array of cultural works including films, literature, and even art that represent this time of life, often made by people who are seniors themselves. These works, focusing on important topics such as housing, memory loss, and intimacy, are analyzed in dialogue with recent research to explore how “stories” illuminate the dynamics of growing old by blending fact with imagination. Gray Matters also incorporates the life experiences of seniors gathered from over two hundred in-depth surveys with a range of questions on growing old, not often included in other age studies works. Combining cultural texts, gerontology research, and observations from older adults will give all readers a fuller picture of the struggles and pleasures of aging and avoids over-simplified representations of the process as all negative or positive.

About this title

About the Author

ELLYN LEM is a professor of English and gender studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Waukesha.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1978806310
• ISBN 13: 9781978806313
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288