Saturday, May 25, 2013

Ronald Blythe. The View in Winter (1979)

 

     Ronald Blythe. The View in Winter (1979) Blythe interviewed a number of elderly and some of their caregivers, edited the answers into coherent narratives, and connected them with comments of his own. As one might expect, old people have varying views about the ending of their lives, the possibility of an afterlife, and what purposes they might still fulfill in the winter of their days. But most of them are cheerful in their acceptance of the disabilities of age, and have few if any regrets about the lives they lived. The worst thing seems to be feelings of uselessness, but few of them suffer from these. An odd mixture of hope and realism that is quite comforting. *** (2005)

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Mice in the Beer (Ward, 1960)

 Norman Ward. Mice In the Beer (1960. Reprinted 1986) Ward, like Stephen Leacock, was an economics and political science professor, Leacock...