An Ageing World: Simone de Beauvoir on Old Age
Summary
David Runciman and literary scholar Lindsay Stonebridge explore Simone de Beauvoir’s profound and prophetic writings on aging, including her seminal work *Old Age*. They discuss how Beauvoir demystified the experience of growing old through rigorous sociological research and personal reflection, framing it as a critical political and existential issue. The conversation highlights her candid accounts of caring for her aging partner, Jean-Paul Sartre, and contrasts her 1970s insights with contemporary anxieties about dementia, medicalization, and the widening inequality of aging.
Topics discussed
Introduction to Simone de Beauvoir and the aging series
De Beauvoir's personal experience and context of writing
The dishonesty and politics of aging in modern society
Poverty, 'useless mouths', and the 2003 heatwave
Demystifying age through humanities and comparison
Existentialism, facticity, and the internal experience of age
Dementia, Iris Murdoch, and the shift in cultural focus
Sartre's aging, blindness, and the diversity of the elderly
Class divisions, state withdrawal, and physical variance
The paradox of 'positive aging' and social care crisis
Who speaks for the elderly? Boomer discourse and inequality
De Beauvoir's perspective on women and the age of 40
Contingency, letting go, and the difficulty of dying
Cultural obsolescence and the relationship to death
Double standards, humor, and the fear of aging vs death
Childlessness, Algeria, and gendered experiences of aging
Centenarians and the rarity of extreme longevity
De Beauvoir as Sartre's carer and their final relationship
The Fourth Age, Daphne du Maurier, and future generations
Planetary time, nuclear age, and historical longevity
Reproductive rights, welfare, and the loss of continuity
Conclusion, bonus episode, and transhumanism preview
Sponsorship and closing remarks
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