Fear of Aging: Old Age in Horror Fiction and Film

In the genre of horror, elderly people are often used as a trope to evoke both a fear of death and a fear of aging. Old age is therefore equated with bodily, mental, or social decline. The contributors of this book investigate what exactly we are afraid of when we posit old age as a source of horror. The aim is to harness the thrills and pleasures of horror to think about how quality of life can be improved in old age and how elderly people can be better integrated in our ever fearful and suspicious societies.

João Paulo Guimarães holds a PhD in English from SUNY Buffalo, was an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellow at University College Dublin and is currently a junior researcher at the Universidade do Porto. His research concentrates on experimental poetry and science studies.