Fiction of Old Age in Early Modern Literature and Culture

Taunton (English, Brunel U.) looks at all sides of the ambiguity about the elders in the period, tracing our own preconceived notions to those of writers, artists and the common folk of the early modern and late Renaissance period. She contrasts the attitudes about the young (beautiful but shallow) to those of the aged and spends particular care explaining cases of men and women of age behaving badly in texts including the fascinating The Old Law. Amongst those she explores are Bacon, Newton and Shakespeare, all worthy indeed, but she has also found riches in relatively obscure writers as well. The attitudes here are quite a contrast to today's tennis-playing grannies, a situation in which she finds hope of the further decline of prejudice. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Nina Taunton is Senior Lecturer in English at Brunel University. She is author of 1590s Drama and Militarism: Portrayals of War in Marlowe, Chapman and Shakespeare's Henry V and coeditor with Darryll Grantley of The Body in Medieval and Early Modern Culture.