Aging By The Book: The Emergence Of Midlife In Victorian Britain (suny Series, Studies In The Long Nineteenth Century)
by Kay Heath /
2009 / English / PDF
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Aging by the Book offers an innovative look at the ways in which
middle age, which for centuries had been considered the prime of
life, was transformed during the Victorian era into a period of
decline. Single women were nearing middle age at thirty, and
mothers in their forties were expected to become sexless;
meanwhile, fortyish men anguished over whether their "time for love
had gone by." Looking at well-known novels of the period, as well
as advertisements, cartoons, and medical and advice manuals, Kay
Heath uncovers how this ideology of decline permeated a changing
culture. Aging by the Book unmasks and confronts midlife anxiety by
examining its origins, demonstrating that our current negative
attitude toward midlife springs from Victorian roots, and arguing
that only when we understand the culturally constructed nature of
age can we expose its ubiquitous and stealthy influence.
Aging by the Book offers an innovative look at the ways in which
middle age, which for centuries had been considered the prime of
life, was transformed during the Victorian era into a period of
decline. Single women were nearing middle age at thirty, and
mothers in their forties were expected to become sexless;
meanwhile, fortyish men anguished over whether their "time for love
had gone by." Looking at well-known novels of the period, as well
as advertisements, cartoons, and medical and advice manuals, Kay
Heath uncovers how this ideology of decline permeated a changing
culture. Aging by the Book unmasks and confronts midlife anxiety by
examining its origins, demonstrating that our current negative
attitude toward midlife springs from Victorian roots, and arguing
that only when we understand the culturally constructed nature of
age can we expose its ubiquitous and stealthy influence.