The Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman (Hardcover)

Didier Eribon

ISBN 10: 0241686725 / ISBN 13: 9780241686720

Verlag: Penguin Books Ltd, London, 2025

Beschreibung

Hardcover. A meditation on the social political and philosophical questions of ageingA few years ago, Didier Eribon's mother began to lose her physical and cognitive autonomy. After several months of resistance, Eribon and his brothers were compelled to place her in a nursing home. A few short weeks later, his mother passed away.In The Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman, Eribon continues the historical, political and personal reflection he began with Returning to Reims, this time turning his attention to the end of life. Tracing his mother's rapid decline, and drawing on works by Simone de Beauvoir, Norbert Elias, Annie Ernaux and Michel Foucault, among others, Eribon transmutes his rage, sadness and the shame over her death into a strikingly nuanced portrait of the woman who raised him. Here, Eribon asks- how does our society treat the elderly? What is the place of bodies that can no longer assemble, discuss freedom or protest? Can the completely dependent speak for themselves - and if not, who can speak for them?An honest, original and wide-ranging exploration of the relationship between ageing and class, politics and literature, this is a profound meditation on a fundamental human experience, too often overlooked. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 9780241686720

Bibliografische Details

• Titel: The Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman (Hardcover)
• Verlag: Penguin Books Ltd, London
• Erscheinungsjahr: 2025
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN-10: 0241686725
• ISBN-13: 9780241686720
• Einband: Hardcover
• Zustand: new

Über diesen Titel

Inhaltsangabe

'Searingly honest . . . compelling, hard to read and hard to put down' Literary Review

'A frank and moving story . . . an urgent plea' Telegraph

‘Who speaks? Who is able to make themselves heard? And if this fundamental political gesture remains inaccessible to so many people who figure among the most dominated, the most dispossessed, the most vulnerable, does it not fall to artists, writers and intellectuals to speak of them and for them’

When Didier Eribon’s mother began to lose her physical and cognitive autonomy, the author and his brothers were compelled to place her in a nursing home, despite their misgivings. A few weeks later, she died.

In The Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman, Eribon embarks on a historical, political and personal meditation on what it means to grow old in our society, and the care we provide for those who cannot afford to pay for better services. Tracing his mother’s rapid decline – and drawing on works by Simone de Beauvoir, Norbert Elias, Annie Ernaux and Michel Foucault, among others – Eribon offers an honest, original and wide-ranging exploration of the relationship between ageing, gender and class, transmuting his own rage, sadness and shame into a strikingly nuanced portrait of the most overlooked human experience.

Translated by Michael Lucey

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Didier Eribon is a prominent French sociologist and author on matters of social class, identity, sexuality and rebellion. He is internationally renowned for his biography of Michel Foucault and his groundbreaking memoir Returning to Reims.