Professor Ben Hutchinson to give Annual Paris Lecture on The Midlife Mind

Professor of European Literature, Ben Hutchinson, will be giving this year’s lecture, and presenting his new book, The Midlife Mind: Literature and the Art of Ageing (Reaktion Books, 2020). The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Professor Jeremy Carrette (Dean for Europe), with three leading specialists in the field of literary studies: Lucie Campos, Director of the Villa Gillet,Claire Davison, Professor of Modernist Studies at Paris III, and Daniel Medin, Professor of Comparative Literature at the American University of Paris.

The talk and panel discussion will explore the meaning of midlife and ageing through the history of literature. What does it mean, in the famous formulation of Dante, to be in the middle of life’s way? From the ancients to the moderns, from poets to playwrights, writers have long meditated on how we can remain creative as we move through our middle years. There are no better guides, then, to how we have regarded middle age in the past, how we understand it in the present, and how we might make it as rewarding as possible in the future. The talk and discussion will explore these issues alongside questions of the midlife crisis, the menopause, the acceptance of mortality, and the creative potential of ageing. Read more on Professor Hutchison’s book here.