The Literary Old Age at the Intersection of Medical Practice and Public Health—A Cross-Disciplinary Reading of Ane Riel’s Clockwork

Abstract

Recent decades have witnessed the coming of age of ‘literary gerontology’, a discipline situated at the intersection of literary studies and gerontology. A key argument of this research is that literature and literary criticism can highlight the complexities and ambiguities of age, ageing and later life. As such, the discipline insists on the relevance of literature within the field of gerontology. This study explores this claim from an interdisciplinary perspective and presents the key findings of an exploratory collaboration between researchers representing literature studies, anthropology, history, public health and medicine. The members of the research team took part in a joint reading, analysis and discussion of Danish author Ane Riel’s novel, Clockwork, which depicts an ageing protagonist’s reconcilement with old age and death. These efforts resulted in dual dimensions of insight: a realistic dimension, which may be interpreted as a confirmation of the existing knowledge of ageing and wellbeing, characterized by physical and cognitive challenges; and an imaginary dimension, a type of knowledge distilled in the interaction between the reader and the literary work. The reader can be seen to be tasked with identifying with the protagonist, with this process providing a hitherto unknown perspective on how ageing is experienced, how it feels and what it means. The study exemplifies an approach fostering cross-disciplinary inspiration, which may stimulate novel research hypotheses and ultimately inform public health thinking and medical practice.