Abstract
José Luís Peixoto is arguably the Portuguese author whose books most frequently focus on the elderly and on the psycho-social nuances of the ageing process. His book Cal is most interesting as it is composed of seventeen short stories, a play and three poems, all centred on old age, and in which concepts of memory, the passing of time and ageing in its most beautiful, tragic, sombre and dignifying ways are fundamental. We also find here an underlying questioning of dominant notions of old age (namely physical and existential decadence) through the raw experiences of the book's characters. Such a counter-discourse has unquestionable significance at this juncture of Portuguese social history as the nation's elderly population grows increasingly marginalized, both within the family context and institutionally, labelled as troublesome burdens and treated as third-rate citizens.
Published Version
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