Creativity in Later Life Beyond Late Style

This collection begins with two premises: that our understanding of the nature and forms of creativity in later life remains limited and that dialogue between specialists in gerontology, the arts and humanities can produce the crucial new insights that are so obviously needed. Representing the outcome of ongoing dialogue across the disciplinary divide, the contributions of this volume reflect anew on what we share and how we differ; creating new narratives so as to build an understanding of late-life creativity that goes far beyond the narrow confines of the pervasively received idea of ‘late style’. Creativity in Later Life encompasses a range of personal reflections and discussions of the boundaries of creativity, including:Canonical artistic achievements to community art projectsNarratives of carers for those living with dementiaAnalyses of creative theoryThrough these insightful chapters, the authors consequently offer an understanding of creativity in later life as varied, socialised and - above all - located in the cultural and economic circumstances of the here and now. This title will appeal to academics, practitioners and students in the various gerontological, arts and humanities fields; and to anyone with an interest in the nature of creativity in later life and the forms it takes.

IntroductionDavid Amigoni and Gordon McMullan The challenges of late-life creativityImagining otherwise: the disciplinary identity of gerontologyRuth RayThe singing voice in late lifeJane ManningCreative ageing: the social policy challengeSusan Hogan and Emily Bradfield Rethinking late styleTurner’s last works and his critics Sam SmilesConstructing a late style for David Bowie: old age, late-life creativity, popular cultureGordon McMullanAn ‘old man in the dimming world’: Theodor Adorno, Derek Walcott and a defence of the idea of late style Robert Spencer The varieties of late-life creativityLate-life creativity: assessing the value of theatre in later lifeMiriam Bernard and Michelle RickettLate-life creativity: methods for understanding arts-generated social capital in the lives of older people Jackie Reynolds‘It’s play, really, isn’t it?’: dress, creativity, old ageHannah Zeilig and Anna-Marie AlmiraVisual diaries, creativity and everyday life Wendy Martin and Katy PilcherSelf, civic engagement and late-life creativityAngela GlendenningNarrating dementiaA critical narrative on late-life creativity and dementia: integrating citizenship, embodiment and relationalityPia Kontos and Alisa Grigorovich‘The artistry of it all’: narrating The Tempest, dementia and the mapping of identity in a Manchester extrincare housing schemeLiz PostlethwaiteTerry Pratchett’s Living with Alzheimer’s as a case study in late-life creativityMartina ZimmermanNarratives as talking therapy: research with Sikh carers of a family member with dementia in Wolverhampton Karan Jutlla Old age, creativity and the late city‘Work, work, work and full steam ahead’: Ian McKay and the conserving radicalism of the Gorton Visual Art Group, public artists in later lifeJohn MilesThe late Peter Rice: late-style stories of ageing and the city in A Bright Past for Stoke on TrentDavid Amigoni

David Amigoni is Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research & Enterprise and Professor of Victorian Literature at Keele University, UK Gordon McMullan is Professor of English at King’s College London, UK; and Director of the London Shakespeare Centre