Ben Hutchinson, Professor of European Literature in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, has recently published a new book titled The Midlife Mind (Reaktion Books, 2020).

The meaning of life is a common concern, but what is the meaning of midlife? With the help of illustrious writers such as Dante, Montaigne, Beauvoir, Goethe and Beckett, The Midlife Mind sets out to answer this question.

Ben says: “Part literary biography, part non-fiction autobiography, this book constitutes a ‘memoir of the middle’. Just as we are all supposed to be middle-class now, so we all seem to be middle-aged. But what does this term even mean? Meditating on what it means to be nel mezzo del cammin, this book represents a transparent attempt to work through my own midlife crisis. I’m not sure it’s worked, but it’s been fun trying.”