Rejuvenation, Unage, and the Authenticity of the Older Woman

Abstract

Exploring two trends in the treatment of aging in Wharton’s and Atherton’s works, this chapter traces interests in medical rejuvenation, a practice called the Steinach procedure that combined hormonal and X-ray therapies. Wharton’s vision about resisting age is less sensational, but no less focused on socially privileged women’s resistance to aging as she reveals the emphasis on “unage” or remaining virtually the same across one’s lifetime, a practice traceable to New York’s high society women. At the same time, in these societies, the older woman was viewed as authentic, despite resisting age, in a way that raw youth was not.