Fictions of Radical Life Extension - (Bloomsbury Studies in the Humanities, Ageing and Later Life) by James Aaron Green (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first book-length study of fictions of radical life extension, this book recovers a major but as-yet unrecognized trend in literature and culture from 1878-1918, taking the form of literary thought experiments that pose the question: what would it mean to live forever?

Book Synopsis

In this major new study, James Aaron Green provides the first account of literary thought experiments published from 1878 to 1918 that speculate on the prospect of radically longer lives.

Green argues that these fictions helped negotiate the emergent experiences and meanings of age and aging during years when long-established norms were being eroded and supplanted. By recovering fictions by lesser-known writers and re-evaluating those by more familiar writers like H. G. Wells and J. M. Barrie, the study reveals the surprising abundance and formal diversity of such speculative accounts. Through readings supported by archival materials (anti-aging advertisements, medical treatises), these accounts are shown to have intervened on a wide range of scientific and social questions related to age and aging - from transfusion to colonialism, and second chances to apocalyptic demography.

Ultimately, Green's innovative historicist study proves how close attention to fictions of radical life extension can not only renovate our understanding of historical attitudes to age and aging, but also those of today.

Review Quotes

"An exciting, ground-breaking monograph on the late nineteenth and early twentieth century fascination with rejuvenation." --Andrea Charise, Associate Professor of Health and Society, University of Toronto, Canada

"Through his innovative analysis of speculative fiction from 1878 to 1918, Green brings fresh perspectives to our understanding of age and aging, revealing how literature has not just mirrored but actively influenced cultural and scientific attitudes toward human longevity." --Ulla Kriebernegg, Professor in Cultural Aging and Care Research, University of Graz, Austria.

About the Author

James Aaron Green received his PhD from the University of Exeter in 2019 and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Vienna, Austria, from 2021-24, working on a project funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW). He has been widely published in age and aging studies, nineteenth-century popular fiction, and game studies. His first monograph, Sensation Fiction and Modernity: The Meanings of Ambivalence in Mid-Victorian Britain, appeared in 2024.