New approaches to the topics of old age and becoming old depicted in a range of texts from modern literature. The central focus of this book is the experience of growing old as represented in literature from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day: an experience shaped by changes in longevity, a new science of senescence, the availability of state pensions, and other phenomena of recent history. The collection considers the increasing prominence of stories of ageing, challenging the idea that old age is an uneventful time outside of the parameters of literary narrative. Instead, age increasingly is the story. As the older population swells, political crises are construed as the old stealing from the young, and the rights of older people are sacrificed to the economics of care, it becomes ever more important to think about and question, as literature does, the symbolic aspects of ageing - the cultural imaginary that determines the way that society sees old age. The work in this volume explores age stories in relation to futurity, precarity and climate change. It brings to light narratives of resistance to colonial imperialism and reproductive futurism framed in terms of age; and tests the lived experience of growing old and the challenge it offers to individualistic conceptions of selfhood, work and care. The literary works examined - hailing from England, North America, Japan and the Caribbean, and including texts by Margaret Drabble, Samuel Beckett and Matthew Thomas - ask how we feel about ageing - so often the determinant of how we think about it.

This work investigates the relationship between verbal cliche, memory and authority in Beckett's prose and theatre, and argues that by consciously manipulating the language of cliches, Beckett challenges intellectual, social and religious authority and argues for the creative value of stupidity, a key concept in the thinking of philosophers such as Wittgenstein and Deleuze.

This new book situates Beckett in a philosophical and literary tradition that has argued for the creative value of stupidity, a key concept in the thinking of philosophers such as Wittgenstein. It investigates the relationship between verbal cliche, revealing the strategies he used to challenge intellectual and social authority in his works.

Examines the effect of technology on personal privacy in libraries Concentrating on privacy issues in public, school and academic libraries, this book pays particular attention to the effect of technology on personal privacy in these settings. In-depth discussions of the laws affecting personal privacy and privacy in library settings are explored. Recent laws enacted in the US that impact on individual privacy are discussed and explained, with special attention given to the USA Patriot Act. Appendices with core privacy documents provide samples of privacy and confidentiality policies. Outlines for privacy audits to be implemented in staff training situations in all types of libraries add to the practicality of the book for individual librarians. It will be both a helpful handbook and a guide to encourage further study on these complex issues. Of particular interest is the impact of personal privacy on issues of accessibility to online databases and other online information in academic libraries.. Looks at the effect of technology in libraries on reader privacy. Contains practical advice for library staff training in privacy issues