Flaming embers

Desire in the broadest sense, as a form of generous self-assertion should ideally increase with the passage of time as we gradually acquire deeper insight into ourselves and others. Prescriptive cultural stereotypes, however, put obstacles on our path to progress as individuation. Yet growing older should not entail renunciation of the singularity of personal fulfilment. This volume is a collection of literary testimonies to the power of art to challenge and resist the social constraints on desire in the context of aging. In the essays, men and women claim their right to age in desire and imaginative vigour.