Aging by the Book

Kay Heath

Description

Aging by the Book offers an innovative look at the ways in which middle age, which for centuries had been considered the prime of life, was transformed during the Victorian era into a period of decline. Single women were nearing middle age at thirty, and mothers in their forties were expected to become sexless; meanwhile, fortyish men anguished over whether their "time for love had gone by." Looking at well-known novels of the period, as well as advertisements, cartoons, and medical and advice manuals, Kay Heath uncovers how this ideology of decline permeated a changing culture. Aging by the Book unmasks and confronts midlife anxiety by examining its origins, demonstrating that our current negative attitude toward midlife springs from Victorian roots, and arguing that only when we understand the culturally constructed nature of age can we expose its ubiquitous and stealthy influence.
List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: The Rise of Midlife in Victorian Britain

2. “No Longer the Man He Was”: Age Anxiety in the Male Midlife Marriage Plot

3. “The Neutral Man-Woman”: Female Desexualization at Midlife

4. Marriageable at Midlife: The Remarrying Widows of Frances Trollope and Anthony Trollope

5. In the Eye of the Beholder: Victorian Age Construction and the Specular Self

6. “How To Keep Young”: Advertising and Late-Victorian Age Anxiety

7. Afterword: The Future of Midlife

Notes
Works Cited
Index

Sujets

• Reino Unido
• Ireland
• United Kingdom
• History of Europe
• Stephen Ireland
• Great Britain
• Royaume-Uni

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 19 février 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791477267
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

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Aging by the Book

SUNY series, Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century

Pamela K. Gilbert, editor

Aging by the Book

The Emergence of Midlife in Victorian Britain

K AY  H EATH

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2009 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Kelli W. LeRoux Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Heath, Kay, 1953–  Aging by the book : the emergence of midlife in Victorian Britain / Kay Heath.  p. cm. — (Suny series, Studies in the long nineteenth century)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-7914-7657-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Middle-aged 2. Middle-agedwomen—Great Britain—Social conditions. women—Attitudes. 3. Great Britain—Social life and customs—19th century. 4. Great Britain—History—Victoria, 1837–1901. I. Title. HQ1059.5.G7H43 2009 305.2440941'09034—dc22 2008017370

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Hope and Laura, with all my love

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Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Notes

Index

5

7

2

3

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

In the Eye of the Beholder: Victorian Age Construction and the Specular Self

vii

115

1

Introduction: The Rise of Midlife in Victorian Britain

145

Marriageable at Midlife: The Remarrying Widows of Frances Trollope and Anthony Trollope

“No Longer the Man He Was”: Age Anxiety in the Male Midlife Marriage Plot

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 4

Acknowledgments

x

i

xi

171

List of Illustrations

Afterword: The Future of Midlife

“How To Keep Young”: Advertising and Late-Victorian Age Anxiety

241

225

199

203

“The Neutral Man-Woman”: Female Desexualization at Midlife

Works Cited

Chapter 7

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