Fictions of Radical Life Extension
Living Forever from the Fin de Siècle to the First World War
Fictions of Radical Life Extension
Living Forever from the Fin de Siècle to the First World War
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Description
In this major new study, James Aaron Green provides the first account of literary thought experiments published from 1878 to 1918 that speculate on the prospect of radically longer lives.
Green argues that these fictions helped negotiate the emergent experiences and meanings of age and aging during years when long-established norms were being eroded and supplanted. By recovering fictions by lesser-known writers and re-evaluating those by more familiar writers like H. G. Wells and J. M. Barrie, the study reveals the surprising abundance and formal diversity of such speculative accounts. Through readings supported by archival materials (anti-aging advertisements, medical treatises), these accounts are shown to have intervened on a wide range of scientific and social questions related to age and aging – from transfusion to colonialism, and second chances to apocalyptic demography.
Ultimately, Green's innovative historicist study proves how close attention to fictions of radical life extension can not only renovate our understanding of historical attitudes to age and aging, but also those of today.
Table of Contents
1. The Blood is the Life: Transfusive Rejuvenescence at the Fin de Siècle
2. Restored to Potential: Rejuvenescence and the 'Second-Chance' Plot
3. Bimini Revisited: Finding Youthfulness in Foreign Places
4. Worlds Made Anew: Utopian and Dystopian Potentials of Rejuvenescence
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | Dec 11 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 240 |
| ISBN | 9781350374720 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 5 bw illus |
| Series | Bloomsbury Studies in the Humanities, Ageing and Later Life |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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