Fierce with Reality: Literature on Aging

by Margaret Cruikshank

Overview

The anthology is far more culturally diverse than the few other literary collections on aging. Ranging from ancient Chinese poetry to Mary Oliver, Alice Walker, and Willie Nelson, the anthology includes poetry, fiction, philosophical essays, personal essays, humor, analyses of ageism, and folktales from Asia and Iraq. Fierce with Reality highlights writings by women, from late 19th century American literature to the present. Many facets of aging are explored, revealing the challenges and complexities of late life, and demonstrating that the aging process is both individual and social/cultural. Fierce with Reality, aimed at a general audience as well as students and professors, would be ideal for book groups.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761868705
Publisher:	Hamilton Books
Publication date:	12/01/2016
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Margaret Cruikshank retired from the women’s studies faculty at the University of Maine, where she is currently an associate of the university’s Center on Aging. She is the author of Learning to be Old: gender, culture and aging, 3rd ed., Rowman & Littlefield, 2013.

Table of Contents

The Old Poets of China, Mary Oliver
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: A Kaleidoscope of Images
Chapter 2: Homage to Grandmothers
Chapter 3: Strength and Wisdom
Chapter 4: Aging is Not for Sissies
Chapter 5: Growth and Change
Chapter 6: Defiance and Self-Determination
Chapter 7: Loss
Chapter 8: Humor
Chapter 9: Ageism
Chapter 10: The Fountain of Youth: Two Asian Versions
Chapter 11: Reflections
About the Editor
Suggested Reading

Editorial Reviews

Such a sharing of the nonlinear nature of time may liberate people of all ages and broaden the understanding of those privileged to serve the old.

Jean Gould

The richness of this volume mirrors the richness of aging here and around the world. Cruikshank has skillfully woven together glimpses of what it is like to grow old. The uniqueness of this text is its diversity. International perspectives combine with work by a variety of U.S. writers. Cruikshank reclaims the word “old” as an honorable one.

Jean Quam

Open to any page and find a gem on aging.

Glenda Martin

Margaret Cruikshank’s Fierce with Reality offers a necessary and welcome corrective to the view of aging as solely a process of illness and loss. Drawing on cultures from around the world and ranging from polemic to poetry, the book portrays growing older in all of its glorious complexity, ambiguity and diversity—and it’s a delight to read.

Ashton Applewhite