Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”

Contemporary British society is growing older and older. However, the blind veneration for the youthful and beautiful body, reflection of a range of good personality attributes, is becoming more and more equivocal. Whereas the industrial revolution contributed to the undermining of the social and cu...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Oró Piqueras, Maricel
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2007
País:España
Recursos:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
Repositorio:Repositori Obert UdL
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/465112
Acesso em linha:https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20079765
https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/465112
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Envelliment
Consumisme
Culte a la joventut
Estètica
Bellesa
Old age
Invisibility
Culture
Joventut
Bellesa femenina (Estètica)
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repository_id_str
spelling Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”Oró Piqueras, MaricelEnvellimentConsumismeCulte a la joventutEstèticaBellesaOld ageInvisibilityCultureEnvellimentConsumismeJoventutBellesa femenina (Estètica)Contemporary British society is growing older and older. However, the blind veneration for the youthful and beautiful body, reflection of a range of good personality attributes, is becoming more and more equivocal. Whereas the industrial revolution contributed to the undermining of the social and cultural status of those reaching old age, a contemporary society based on a postmodernist ideology and consumerist culture seems to give an opportunity to those who keep the signs of age at bay from their bodies with the use and abuse of rejuvenatory products and techniques. In this paper, I aim to analyse the contradictions existing in relation to the conceptions of the young and old body and, by extension, of youth and old age in contemporary British and contemporary Western society by analysing Hanif Kureishi’s short story “The Body.” Kureishi pushes such contradictions to an extreme by presenting a surrealist story in which a desire to remain young forever merges with the need to keep one’s sense of self and identity within a community that is increasingly changing ethics for aesthetics.Universidad de Zaragoza2007info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttps://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20079765https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/465112reponame:Repositori Obert UdL instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)InglésReproducció del document original publicat a https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20079765Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, 36, 89–100cc-by-nc (c) Maricel Oró Piqueras, 2007info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/4651122026-06-24T12:42:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”
title Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”
spellingShingle Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”
Oró Piqueras, Maricel
Envelliment
Consumisme
Culte a la joventut
Estètica
Bellesa
Old age
Invisibility
Culture
Envelliment
Consumisme
Joventut
Bellesa femenina (Estètica)
title_short Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”
title_full Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”
title_fullStr Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”
title_full_unstemmed Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”
title_sort Forever Young: Consumer Culture and the Ageing Body in Hanif Kureishi’s “The Body”
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Oró Piqueras, Maricel
author Oró Piqueras, Maricel
author_facet Oró Piqueras, Maricel
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Envelliment
Consumisme
Culte a la joventut
Estètica
Bellesa
Old age
Invisibility
Culture
Envelliment
Consumisme
Joventut
Bellesa femenina (Estètica)
topic Envelliment
Consumisme
Culte a la joventut
Estètica
Bellesa
Old age
Invisibility
Culture
Envelliment
Consumisme
Joventut
Bellesa femenina (Estètica)
description Contemporary British society is growing older and older. However, the blind veneration for the youthful and beautiful body, reflection of a range of good personality attributes, is becoming more and more equivocal. Whereas the industrial revolution contributed to the undermining of the social and cultural status of those reaching old age, a contemporary society based on a postmodernist ideology and consumerist culture seems to give an opportunity to those who keep the signs of age at bay from their bodies with the use and abuse of rejuvenatory products and techniques. In this paper, I aim to analyse the contradictions existing in relation to the conceptions of the young and old body and, by extension, of youth and old age in contemporary British and contemporary Western society by analysing Hanif Kureishi’s short story “The Body.” Kureishi pushes such contradictions to an extreme by presenting a surrealist story in which a desire to remain young forever merges with the need to keep one’s sense of self and identity within a community that is increasingly changing ethics for aesthetics.
publishDate 2007
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2007
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20079765
https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/465112
url https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20079765
https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/465112
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document original publicat a https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20079765
Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, 36, 89–100
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by-nc (c) Maricel Oró Piqueras, 2007
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by-nc (c) Maricel Oró Piqueras, 2007
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universidad de Zaragoza
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universidad de Zaragoza
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositori Obert UdL
instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
instname_str Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
reponame_str Repositori Obert UdL
collection Repositori Obert UdL
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,812429

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