The “New Woman” of the Moment a Late Nineteenth- and Late Twentieth-Century Literary Comparison into Female Ageing and Age-Relations

Abstract

The study of human ageing and age relations often results in “good” vs “bad age rhetoric’s. Similarly, studies into the construction of new types of womanhood continuously rely on one-on-one comparisons of new woman subjectivities. If age is incorporated within these studies, this tends to focus on mother-daughter relationships alone. Analysing female ageing and age-relations from a wide range of perspectives and literary genres, namely late nineteenth-century New Woman literature and late twentieth-century Chick-lit, reveals the intricate ways in which age-dynamics play a fundamental role in the construction of new types of womanhood. Research into these two historically unique, yet uniquely similar genres illustrate how female age dynamics can be potentially liberating vehicles of female identity construction at times, but more often than not ultimately endorse highly exclusionary narratives. The employability and remarkable similarity in the literary age-bound tactics of identity construction within both genres reveals “age’s” efficacy as a tool of female identity construction. However, it also shows its precarious double-bind and the far-reaching inclusionary and exclusionary implications these age-tactics carry. These findings also demand a re-thinking of literary gerontological research. Age as a topic deserves the attention of a diverse field of researchers, not just the “aged”. This analysis proves age dynamics are of paramount importance in various literary genres, not just within self-proclaimed works of “age-literature” alone.