OLD AGE AND DORIS LESSING

Abstract

My thesis explores the realm of middle and old age from a medical point of view as well as from social and literary ones. I first chose to consider two important contributions in this field of study: Simone De Beauvoir’s The Coming of Old Age and Antonio Gramiccia’s La Strage degli Innocenti: Anatomia di un Omicidio Sociale. My work focuses then on Doris Lessing’s representations of aging through her works. Her novel The Diaries of Jane Somers depicts a woman, Jane, who, at the age of fifty, reconsiders herself and her life. The relationship with the ninety-year-old Maudie, moreover, helps her to age more consciously and helps Maudie to find the love of a friend. If The Old Could sees Jane dealing with a new, more mature love and the problems connected with it. Lessing’s stories, An Old Woman and Her Cat, Flight and The Grandmothers give other realistic examples of aging. Her autobiographies, finally, enhance the importance of the role of memory in life. The works of Doris Lessing can fit new literary genres. These give their protagonists the chance to find affirmation and the possibility to progress even in later stages of life. Doris Lessing can also give us a picture of old men and women in society and the chance to change and adapt as life continues. My purpose is to enhance the importance not to forget the past in order to face the present in a society where old age is seen as a condemnation rather than an unavoidable stage of life.