Surplus to requirements? The ageing body in contemporary Irish writing

Abstract

The dramatic rise and fall of Ireland s economy over the past three decades has brought substantial changes to social life. Against this backdrop, the nature, experience, and representation of ageing have evolved to meet the ideal constructions of contemporary capitalist society. The drive towards production and consumerism elevates the young, fit, and healthy. Despite representing an increasingly large proportion of the population, the old are perceived through narratives of decline, facing marginalisation, exclusion, and invisibility. Irish writing is increasingly speaking back against such ageist social assumptions by foregrounding subjective, embodied experiences of ageing, from midlife through to deep old age