Book Review: Creativity in Later Life: Beyond Late Style

Theresa Southam

doi:10.5195/aa.2020.262

Abstract

Highlights

This volume aims to tackle ‘creativity’—what it is, and how it presents itself in late life—on the crossroads of two lenses: cultural gerontology and the arts and humanities
The editors say this is a “provisional” collection, including authors of diverse backgrounds, speaking from a wide area of experiences, “who were likely to approach the subject of late-life creativity from very different, even frankly conflicting, viewpoints” (10). They claim that gerontological contributors tend to be interested in the “effects of creativity on old age [while] arts-and-humanities scholars tend to focus on the effects of old age on creativity” (9)
If anthropologists had been included in the collection, and if the editors had more broadly represented cultural gerontology, their readership might have been widened

Summary

Introduction

This volume aims to tackle ‘creativity’—what it is, and how it presents itself in late life—on the crossroads of two lenses: cultural gerontology and the arts and humanities. They claim that gerontological contributors tend to be interested in the “effects of creativity on old age [while] arts-and-humanities scholars tend to focus on the effects of old age on creativity” (9).

Results

Conclusion