Abstract
Discussing ageing in the fiction of Molly Keane, Deirdre Madden and Anne Enright, this chapter examines the way in which these novelists succeed in challenging the predominant western narrative of ageing as decline by drawing out new skills and strengths that may be gained during the ageing process. The chapter will argue that their novels fall into the category of Reifungsromane, a term coined by Barbara Frey Waxman to denote fiction that portrays later life as a time of change and even growth. Waxman concentrates on portraits of ageing by and about women. In this chapter, though the authors selected are female, the presentation of ageing in their work lends itself to a discussion that is more evenly balanced across the genders.
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Ingman, H. (2018). Resisting the Narrative of Decline: Molly Keane, Time After Time, Deirdre Madden, Authenticity and Anne Enright, The Green Road. In: Ageing in Irish Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96430-0_3
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