Abstract
The view that aging provokes its own form of masquerade raises the question of what lies behind the mask and whether it is possible to outline what an authentic existence in later life might be like. Contemporary trends toward a narrative explanation of identity, exemplified by the growth of narrative therapies, may pose particular difficulties for theorising about aging. These therapies are associated with a submersion of the personal and social past under demands in the here and now and the de-contextualisation of old age from the lifecourse as it has been lived. Memory and lifecourse context are examined as possible foundations for authenticity and a model is suggested that contains postmodern preoccupations with multiple identity choices, the personal past and the possibilities for expression made available by particular social spaces or contexts.
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