La prospettiva della storia culturale e l’approccio autobiografico

Abstract

Cultural history can contribute to age studies in many ways: by using literary texts, memory sources (both written and oral), and visual images from art and the cinema, it can give a sense of the plurality of ways of aging in various ages and places. It recognizes the centrality of the body for this type of research on subjectivity and it considers the autobiographical approach essential for the study of aging. The author includes her own reflections on the experience of aging and writing on age, besides reviewing a number of existing texts from Europe and North America.