scholarly journals Młodość wobec starości: szacunek czy deprecjacja? „Namir!” Lubka Deresza

2017 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 401-414
Author(s):  
Albert Nowacki

Youth to old age: respect or depreciation? Namir! by Lubko DereshThis article deals the problem of old age in the novel Namir! by Ukrainian writer Lubko Deresh. To accomplish this research task, at the beginning of the presentation problem of how the elderly was presented in culture and literature over the centuries was analyzed, and then was analyzed the novel itself. Studies have shown that in his book the author raised the question of a confrontation of youth with an old age. Our analyzes of Namir! by Deresh turned out that it repeats the patterns of mass culture, showing atendency to devaluation the elderly. During the study revealed, however, achange in approach to the problems of old age, which is visible attitude of respect for the elderly linked to equality in the face of inevitable death.Молодість перед старістю: пошана чи зневага? Намір! Любка ДерешаМетою цієї статті є спроба показати проблему старості в романі українського пись­менника Любка Дереша Намір! Щоб успішно висвітлити так окреслене завдання, на по­чатку було звернено особливу вагу на те, як питання старості представлялося культурою та літературою протягом століть, і тільки тоді було звернено увагу на саму повість. Дослі­дження показали, що в своїй книзі автор використав питання конфронтації молодого віку із старістю. Під час аналізу нами було встановлено, що Намір! повторює схеми масової куль­тури та показує виразну схильність автора до девальвації літніх людей. Наше дослідження показало, однак, певну зміну в підході до проблеми старості, а саме, що зміна зневаги на ставлення з повагою до літніх людей пов’язана із рівністю всіх людей перед обличчям не­минучої смерті.

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-103
Author(s):  
Peter Leman
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  

Abstract This article examines Nuruddin Farah's 1979 novel Sweet and Sour Milk, asking how we read representations of postcolonial mourning and living death in the context of global authoritarianism. The first novel in Farah's influential dictatorship trilogy, Sweet and Sour Milk introduces us to “the General,” a fictionalized version of Siyad Barre, who ruled Somalia from 1969 to 1991. Like Barre's, the General's power exemplifies what Achille Mbembe calls “necropolitics,” or “the contemporary subjugation of life to the power of death.” The General's necropower manifests, peculiarly, as a politics of substitution—that is, when he takes a life, he leaves something in its place. Rebels do not simply disappear; they are killed and then given sycophantic zombie afterlives in the General's propaganda. In response to this politics of substitution, Farah explores a politics of mourning, which insists upon the irreplaceability of lost love objects and thereby broadly reveals what truly can and cannot be substituted. The General insists on the uniqueness of his power, for example, but Farah reveals it to be a cliché, easily substituted by that of other dictators throughout history. Cliché becomes revolutionary in this way, suggesting that dictators share a common fate: they will be deposed or, eventually, die of old age. However, like a horde of the living dead, others like them will return. The article concludes with analysis of the apparent pessimism of this point and the global implications of Farah's ideas about both necropolitics and the limits of the novel form in the face of authoritarian power.


Media narratives in popular culture often ascribe interchangeable characteristics to childhood and old age. In the manner of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By, the authors in this volume envision the presumed semblance between children and the elderly as a root metaphor that finds succinct articulation in the idea that “children are like old people” and vice versa. The volume explores the recurrent use of this root metaphor in literature and media from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The authors demonstrate how it shapes and is reinforced by a spectrum of media products from Western and East-Asian countries. Most the media products addressed were developed for children as their primary audience, and range from children’s classics such as Heidi to recent Dutch children’s books about euthanasia. Various authors also consider narratives produced either for adults (for instance, the TV series Mad Men, and the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) or for a dual audience (for example, the family film Paddington or The Simpsons). The diversity of these products in terms of geography, production date, and audience buttresses a broad comparative exploration of the connection between childhood and old age, allowing the authors to bring out culturally specific aspects and biases. Finally, since this book also unites scholars from a variety of disciplines (media studies, children’s literature studies, film studies, pedagogy, sociology), the individual chapters provide a range of methods for studying the connection between childhood and old age.


2021 ◽  
pp. 499-528
Author(s):  
Catherine Oppenheimer ◽  
Julian C. Hughes

This chapter describes the ethical issues that arise in the setting of mental illness, and particularly dementia, in old age. It affirms the importance of understanding each older person as an individual, embedded in a unique history and in relationships which sustain their identity even in the face of cognitive decline. Autonomy and paternalism are discussed, and the alternative concept of ‘parentalism’ introduced. Decision-making capacity and competence are extensively analysed from both philosophical and practical viewpoints, with particular reference to the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and to mechanisms for decision-making for noncompetent patients. Topics briefly treated include predictive diagnosis and mild cognitive impairment, end-of-life care, truth telling, sexuality, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The text is aimed at old age psychiatrists and other practitioners in the field, as well as at those with an interest in ethical issues in old age.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alana Duque Dos Santos ◽  
Alana Libania de Souza Santos ◽  
Luana Machado Andrade ◽  
Elionara Teixeira Boa Sorte ◽  
Ester Da Silva Santos ◽  
...  

Objetivo: analisar a concepção de mulheres idosas sobre a sexualidade na velhice. Método: trata-se de um estudo qualitativo, descritivo, desenvolvido no âmbito do projeto de extensão Universidade Aberta à Terceira Idade, com dez mulheres idosas. Coletaram-se as informações por meio de um roteiro semiestruturado, analisando-as pela técnica de Análise de Conteúdo Temática. Resultados: apontaram-se, a partir dos dados, três categorias: Sexualidade: superando o modelo cultural tradicional; Concepção de sexualidade e Experiência da sexualidade na velhice. Conclusão: observou-se que as mulheres idosas concebem a sexualidade como uma experiência viável na velhice, mesmo diante das limitações corporais e funcionais atreladas ao envelhecimento. Descritores: Sexualidade; Idoso; Envelhecimento; Saúde do Idoso; Saúde da Mulher; Relação Sexual.AbstractObjective: to analyze the conception of elderly women about sexuality in old age. Method: this is a qualitative, descriptive study, developed within the scope of the Open University to the Third Age extension project, with ten elderly women. The information was collected through a semi-structured script, analyzing it by the technique of Thematic Content Analysis. Results: from the data, three categories were pointed out: Sexuality: surpassing the traditional cultural model; Conception of sexuality and Experience of sexuality in old age. Conclusion: it was observed that elderly women conceive sexuality as a viable experience in old age, even in the face of bodily and functional limitations linked to aging. Descriptors: Sexuality; Old Man; Aging; Health of the Elderly; Women's Health; Sexual Intercourse.ResumenObjetivo: analizar la concepción de las mujeres mayores sobre la sexualidad en la vejez. Método: este es un estudio cualitativo, descriptivo, desarrollado en el proyecto de extensión Universidad Abierta a la Tercera Edad, con diez mujeres de edad avanzada. La información se recopiló con un guión semiestructurado, analizándolos mediante la técnica de análisis de contenido temático. Resultados: surgieron tres categorías: Sexualidad: superando el modelo cultural tradicional; Concepción de la sexualidad; y Experiencia de sexualidad en la vejez. Conclusión: se observó que las mujeres de edad avanzada conciben la sexualidad como una experiencia viable en la vejez, incluso frente a las limitaciones corporales y funcionales relacionadas con el envejecimiento. Descriptores: La sexualidade; Personas de Edad Avanzada; Envejecimiento; Salud del Anciano; Salud de la Mujer; Relación Sexual.


Author(s):  
FLAVIA CRISTINA SILVEIRA LEMOS ◽  
FELIPE SAMPAIO DE FREITAS ◽  
HELENA CAROLLYNE DA SILVA SOUZA ◽  
JOSÉ AUGUSTO LOPES DA SILVA ◽  
RONILDA BORDÓ DE FREITAS GARCIA ◽  
...  

 Este artigo é um ensaio que aborda a pandemia pelo Covid-19, a partir de uma perspectiva biopolítica e biodigital, assinalando aspectos da precariedade acirrada vivida por idosos frente ao contágio pelo novo coronavírus e os efeitos nefastos deste em suas existências. Busca-se pensar elementos da sociedade de controle e os enquadramentos da política de morte dirigida a este grupo social quanto ao deixar morrer e ao estigma voltado aos idosos como estratégia de gestão da população, no presente. Portanto, visamos analisar práticas sociais que produzem quadros de ausência de proteção, de reconhecimento e expansão da vida de grupos marcados pelo envelhecimento, constituindo-os como um peso e problema para a sociedade contemporânea. Com efeito, utiliza-se a velhice como figura de um viver que não tem valor e não é digno de comoção nem passível de luto durante a gestão da pandemia por Covid-19.Palavras-chave: Idosos. Pandemia de Covid-19. Biopolítica. Biovigilância. Precariedade. Biopolitics, Digital and Tanatopolitical Governance: elderly people and the pandemic of covid-19ABSTRACT This article is an essay that addresses the Covid-19 pandemic, from a biopolitical and biodigital perspective, pointing out aspects of the severe precariousness experienced by the elderly in the face of contagion by the new coronavirus and its harmful effects on their lives. It seeks to think about elements of the control society and the framework of the death policy directed at this social group regarding the letting die and the stigma towards the elderly as a population management strategy, at present. Therefore, we aim to analyze social practices that produce situations of lack of protection, recognition and expansion of the lives of groups marked by aging, constituting them as a weight and problem for contemporary society. Indeed, old age is used as a figure of living that has no value and is not worthy of commotion or mourning during the pandemic management by Covid-19. Keywords: Elderly. Covid-19 Pandemic. Biopolitics. Biovigilance. Precariousness.


Author(s):  
Endang Maruti

The research aims to uncover the symbols in the novel The Alchemist and to gain knowledge about the moral teachings in the symbol. This research is descriptive qualitative approach. Data sources in this study are words, phrases or sentences in the novel Alchemist. Data collection method is a literature study method with note taking technique. Data were analyzed using description and content analysis methods. The results showed that the novel The Alchemist contained many symbols. These symbols include: (1) wise parents, who symbolize both negative and positive things. From his appearance, parents can symbolize something bad, but behind his old age he symbolizes a knowledge that is very much and wise; (2) stones that symbolize something hard, not easily broken, and can provide clues to something; and (3) deserts or deserts which can be interpreted as symbols of drought, aridity, unattractiveness, emptiness, despair, determination for ignorance, and also as symbols of devotion.  


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-109
Author(s):  
Kristen Marangoni

The enigmatic setting of Beckett's novel Watt has been compared to places as diverse as an insane asylum, a boarding school, a womb, and a concentration camp. Watt's experience at Knott's house does seem suggestive of all of these, and yet it may more readily conform to the setting of a monastery. The novel is filled with chants, meditations, choral arrangements, hierarchical classifications, and even silence, all highly evocative of a monastic lifestyle. Some of Watt's dialogue (such as his requests for forgiveness or reflections on the nature of mankind) further echoes various Catholic liturgies. Watt finds little solace in these activities, however. He feels that they are largely rote and purposeless as they are focused on Knott, a figure who in many ways defies linguistic description and physical know-ability. Watt's meditations and rituals become, then, empty catechisms without answers, something that is reflected in the extreme difficulty that Watt has communicating. In the face of linguistic and liturgical instability, the Watt notebooks present a counter reading that can be found in the thousand plus doodles that line its pages. The drawings reinforce as well as subvert their textual counterpart, and they function in many ways as the images in medieval illuminated manuscripts. The doodles in Watt often take the form of decorative letters, elaborate marginal drawings, and depictions of a variety of people and animals, and many of its doodles offer uncanny resemblances in form or theme to those in illuminated manuscripts like The Book of Kells. Doodles of saints, monks, crosses, and scribes even give an occasional pictorial nod to the monastic setting in which illuminated manuscripts were usually produced (and remind us of the monastic conditions in which Beckett found himself writing much of Watt). Beckett's doodles not only channel this medium of illuminated manuscripts, they also modernize its application. Instead of neat geometric shapes extending down the page, his geometric doodle sequences are often abstracted, fragmented, and nonlinear. Beckett also occasionally modernized the content of illuminated manuscripts: instead of the traditional sacramental communion table filled with candles, bread and wine, Beckett doodles a science lab table where Bunsen burners replaces candles and wine glasses function as beakers. It is through these modernized images that Watt attempts to draw contemporary relevance from a classic art form and to restore (at least partial) meaning to rote traditions.


Romanticism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-270
Author(s):  
Mark Sandy

Attending to the hoped-for connection between young and older generations, this essay revisits Wordsworth's poetic fascination with the elderly and the question of what, if any, consolation for emotional and physical loss could be attained for growing old. Wordsworth's imaginative impulse is to idealise the elderly into transcendent figures, which offers the compensation of a harmonious vision to the younger generation for the losses of old age that, in all likelihood, they will themselves experience. The affirmation of such a unified and compensatory vision is dependent upon the reciprocity of sympathy that Wordsworth's poetry both sets into circulation and calls into question. Readings of ‘Simon Lee’, ‘I know an aged Man constrained to dwell’, and ‘The Old Cumberland Beggar’ point up the limitations of sympathy and vision (physical and poetic) avowed in these poems as symptomatic of Wordsworth's misgivings about the debilitating effects of growing old and old age. Finally, Wordsworth's unfolding tragedy of ‘Michael’ is interpreted as reinforcing a frequent pattern, observed elsewhere in his poetry, whereby idealised figures of old men transform into disturbingly spectral second selves of their younger counterparts or narrators. These troubling transformations reveal that at the heart of Wordsworth's poetic vision of old age as a harmonious, interconnected, and consoling state, there are disquieting fears of disunity, disconnection, disconsolation, and, lastly, death.


Somatechnics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-194
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kotwasińska

The article offers a re-examination of abjected femininity and old age through a close reading of The Taking of Deborah Logan (2015), a found footage horror movie centered on spectral possession. While to a large extent the movie replicates an infamous monstrous old woman trope, it also effectively questions typical Alzheimer's disease (AD) narratives, which tend to portray life with AD as a story of unmitigated loss and debility. In The Taking of Deborah Logan, potentially destabilizing moments occur when in the face of progressive loss of control, memory, and bodily functions, the main protagonist is momentarily experienced as resisting the dehumanisation and loss of agency conventionally associated with AD and possession alike. The aim of this article is thus three-fold. The first part sketches the processes through which possession narratives generate a highly ambivalent space for aging femininity in horror film, and how aging, disability, and AD intersect both in popular understanding and in film. In the second part, the author examines how The Taking of Deborah Logan, as a found footage horror, shapes a discussion about selfhood, agency, and monstrous embodiment. Finally, the author argues that it is through the concept of transaging that one can find ways to destabilise traditional understandings of old age, female embodiment, and AD, and offer new narratives that highlight monstrous, if ambivalent, agency.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aml Ghanem

COVID-19 is a global crisis that requires a deep understanding of infection pathways to facilitate the development of effective treatments and vaccines. Telomere, which is regarded as a biomarker for other respiratory viral infections, might influence the demographic distribution of COVID-19 infection and fatality rates. Viral infection can induce many cellular remodeling events and stress responses, including telomere specific alterations, just as telomere shortening. In brief, this letter aims to highlight the connection between telomere shortening and susceptibility to COVID-19 infection, in addition to changes in telomeric length according to the variation of age and gender of confirmed cases with COVID-19 infection. To sum up, the correlation is revealed from the available data that connect telomere length and COVID-19 infection, demonstrated in the fact that the elderly patients and males are more susceptible to COVID-19 due to shortening in their telomere length.


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