Aging Experiments: Futures and Fantasies of Old Age

The sustained expansion of the life span and the attendant demographic changes in the West have fuelled the production of cultural texts that explore alternative representations of aging and old age. The contributors to this volume show how artists in science-fiction, fantasy and the avant-garde develop visions of late life transformation, improvisation and adaptation to new circumstances. The studies particularly focus on perspectives on aging that challenge the predominant narratives of decline as well as fantasies of eternal youth, as defined by neoliberal notions of health, able-bodiedness, agency, self-improvement, progress, plasticity and productivity.

João Paulo Guimarães holds a PhD in English from SUNY Buffalo, was an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellow at University College Dublin and is currently a junior researcher at the Universidade do Porto. His research concentrates on experimental poetry and science studies.