'And Yet I Remember'

«And Yet I Remember» explores representations of ageing and old age in English drama from 1660 to the 1750s. Within these approximately ninety years, England witnessed significant developments in medicine and the advent of sentimental philosophy, which began to transform attitudes toward old age and ageing. This study discusses the enduring cultural and literary stereotyping of old(er) people in culture and drama of this period. The chapters are organised around the stereotypes that kept reappearing in cultural, medical and religious narratives on old age, namely the desiring old man (senex amans) and woman (the «lusty old widow») and the nostalgic and wise elder. Exploring many diverse storylines between 1660 and the 1750s that treat old age and present old(er) characters, the analyses in this study further show how the choice of genre, personal experiences and attitudes of the playwright, and political and cultural revolutions affected the representation of older people.

Katarzyna Bronk-Bacon is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. She teaches the History of English Literature but specialises in Restoration theatre and drama. She has been exploring representations and dramatisations of ageing and old age and her current research on the matters of senescence, titled «Embodied sites of memory? Investigations into the definitions and representations of old age and ageing in English drama between 1660 and 1750», is supported by a grant from the Polish National Science Centre. She is the editor of «Experienc’d Age knows what for Youth is fit»?: Generational and Familial Conflict in British and Irish Drama and Theatre (Peter Lang, 2019).