Elders: The Long Journey Home

IF 2 0 HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY Women-A Cultural Review Pub Date : 2022-04-03 DOI:10.1080/09574042.2022.2101750
M. Jacobus
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Abstract

Abstract The term ‘elders’ has been used to refer to those who might once have been called ‘seniors’, ‘retirees’ or ‘OAPs’ (Old Age Pensioners). The Middle English eldre—connoting wisdom and experience—signals a discomfort-zone. ‘Elders’ are us, embarked on an unknowable end-of-life journey. Similarly, ‘elder-speak’ designates an artificial manner of speaking (reduced speed, simplified vocabulary, exaggerated diction), implying that those of advanced years have limited cognition and linguistic competence. The memory- and language-losses of later years challenge literary and visual representation. We risk becoming ventriloquists, eavesdroppers, or voyeurs in our efforts to accompany the old on their last journey. Listening with ‘the third ear’ (Theodor Reik’s term, borrowed from Nietzsche)—or seeing with the third eye—potentially allows for a non-intrusive mode of understanding the old, and also ourselves. Women are often care-partners. But sometimes they are the ones cared for—part of an aging couple. My three examples will be Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, The Buried Giant (2015); later life seen through the lens of contemporary British Object Relations psychoanalysis; and Paddy Summerfield’s photographic essay about his elderly parents, Mother and Father (2014). Read together, they underline the role of aesthetics in understanding the meanings and losses of old age.
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长者:漫漫归途
“长者”一词已经被用来指那些可能曾经被称为“老年人”、“退休人员”或“OAPs”(老年养老金领取者)的人。中古英语中的“长者”——寓意智慧和经验——标志着一个不舒服的区域。“长者”就是我们,踏上了不可知的生命终结之旅。同样,“老年人说话”指的是一种人为的说话方式(语速降低、词汇简化、用词夸张),暗示老年人的认知和语言能力有限。晚年的记忆和语言丧失对文学和视觉表现提出了挑战。我们冒着成为口技家、偷听者或偷窥者的风险,努力陪伴老人踏上他们最后的旅程。用“第三只耳朵”(Theodor Reik借用尼采的术语)倾听——或者用第三只眼睛看——可能会让我们以一种非侵入式的方式来理解老年人,也包括我们自己。女性通常是照顾者。但有时他们是老年人的一部分。我的三个例子是石黑一雄的小说《被埋葬的巨人》(2015);当代英国客体关系精神分析视角下的晚年生活;帕迪·萨默菲尔德关于他年迈父母的摄影散文《母亲和父亲》(2014)。一起读,他们强调美学在理解老年的意义和损失中的作用。
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Women-A Cultural Review
Women-A Cultural Review HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-
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9.10%
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