The Ages of Life

... with Ulla Kriebernegg und Roberta Maierhofer

1. »Books that the world does not need to read.« Why is your book different?

This collection of essays aims to explore the relationship between living and aging as a productive antagonism. Aging and growing old are processes which cannot be reduced to a chronology of years but which are shaped by the individual's interaction with changing circumstances of life. To the degree that it enables agency, critical analyses of the relationship between living and aging allow for subversive deconstruction of normative age concepts.

2. What new perspective does your book provide?

In this volume, bio-gerontological models of aging as decline are redefined from new perspectives, e.g. a cultural studies perspective, as the ambiguity of living and aging. This cultural ambiguity enables an analysis of the social functions of images of aging in order to provide a basis for interdisciplinary exchange on gerontological knowledge.

3. How does your book influence contemporary research within this area of focus?

Although consensus exists that any studies on aging and the life course have to bridge the gap between the abstract and the concrete, the personal and the political, theory and practice by providing an interdisciplinary platform for research, only recently the field of ›cultural gerontology‹ has gained acceptance. Even if many of the essays are firmly rooted within specific disciplines, by contributing to this volume an interdisciplinary discussion on aging and the life course is encouraged.

4. Who would you want discuss your book with?

Of course we would like to discuss this collection of essays with all aging studies scholars and practitioners in the field, but also with everyone who has a general interest in the topic.

5. Describe your book in one sentence:

This interdisciplinary collection contributes to a re-conceptualization of aging and the deconstruction of the binary opposition of ›young‹ and ›old‹.