The Contribution of Literary Scholarship to Gerontology

Join Marlene Goldman on September 14th, when she presents

“The Contribution of Literary Scholarship to Gerontology”.

Seminar will be held at L.R. Wilson Hall | Main Campus in Room 1003

In Marlene Goldman’s ‘The Contribution of Literary Scholarship to Gerontology” she argues that novelists, poets, and dramatists play a profound role in any period’s understandings of illness and disease. In the case of late-onset dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, language —specifically, clusters of familiar metaphors and literary genres such as tragedy and the Gothic — constitute the central medium for the ongoing interplay between biology and culture.

The idea that fiction, more than medicine, is responsible for shaping our concepts of disease is central to her book, Forgotten: Age-Related Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease in Canada and to her film Piano Lessons, an adaptation of Alice Munro’s story InSight of the Lake from her recent collection Dear Life (2012).

Professor Goldman’s training in literary studies enables her to step back from authoritative and popular narratives about aging and age-related diseases, to consider how they are narratively constructed, whose interests they serve, and, on occasion to challenge their Gothic and apocalyptic pronouncements.

The Gilbrea Centre 2018 / 2019 Seminar Series

This series creates opportunities for the exchange of ideas and stimulates discussion amongst associate researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, community members, and older people.

This year we will be hosting several seminars with various research groups and networks to explore this year’s chosen research theme; “Visual Methods and Knowledge Exchange” with a focus on aging.

Marlene Goldman is the first speaker we will be hosting as part of this series.

Spaces are available for this free seminar!

More information at http://gilbrea.mcmaster.ca/events or contact [email protected]