Out of Time: The Pleasures and Perils of Ageing

Description

In Out of Time, leading thinker Lynne Segal examines her life and surveys the work and lives of other writers and artists to explore the pleasures and perils of growing old. Following in the footsteps of Simone de Beauvoir-who in her mid-fifties mourned 'never again!' and yet was energetically writing in her sixties and seventies-Segal mixes memoir, literature and polemic to examine the inevitable consequences of staying alive. Who is that stranger who stares back from the mirror? What happens to ambition and sexuality? As millions of baby boomers approach their sixth or seventh decade, these questions are becoming increasingly urgent. Must the old always be in conflict with the young? How can we deal with the inevitability of loss and find victory in survival? Brilliant, moving and challenging, Out of Time is an urgent and necessary corrective to the assumptions and taboos that constrain the lives of the aged.

Lynne Segal is Anniversary Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck College. Her books include Out of Time, Is the Future Female? Troubled Thoughts on Contemporary Feminism; and Slow Motion: Changing Masculinities, Changing Men.

In this courageous study, Lynne Segal addresses the vicissitudes of ageing, a process that lies in wait for us all. She turns on the subject a critical eye honed by social psychology, psychoanalysis, feminism and radical politics. An original, probing and unsettling exploration. -- Stuart Hall, author of Representation It's about time for a book like Out of Time, compassionate, seasoned, honest, and wise, which asks questions about age but aims to enlighten, rather than frighten us. Read on! -- Elaine Showalter, author of A Jury of Her Peers An international treasure. -- Barbara Ehrenreich A unique capacity for clarity and wit, along with her courage of intellect. -- Sheila Rowbotham One of the most capacious readers of feminism and sexuality studies I have ever encountered. -- Judith Butler Passionate, lucid, and shockingly candid ... a clarion call to those who see feminism as a redundant cause. -- Helen Walsh Balanced and richly documented. -- Barbara Ehrenreich