Women Writing Age in Fiction
How do you narrate the story of women’s old age? So many events that shape fiction — courtship, marriage, coming of age — happen to young people. How do you write a novel — or a short story — about the later part of life? We encounter failures of mind and body, grief and loss, death. Yet these novels also reveal resilience, humor, and gestures of reparation. In this course, we will study works by four prize-winning contemporary women writers that portray women in old age.
Books to be read in advance and then discussed in class are:
- Olive Kittridge, by Elizabeth Strout
- Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor
- Old Babes in the Woods, by Margaret Attwood
- Three Things about Elsie, by Joanna Cannon
Faculty Bios
Carol Christ retired as chancellor of UC Berkeley in 2024; she has also served as president of Smith College. She taught in the English Department at Berkeley for many decades.
Susan Van Dyne earned her Ph.D. from Harvard and taught at Smith College for four decades. She’s written about Sylvia Plath’s poetry and Alison Bechdel’s queer graphic memoir Fun Home.
This is an In-Person Course
- Classes meet in person at the Golden Bear Center, Suite 202/204, at 1995 University Ave., Berkeley
- You must be a current OLLI @Berkeley member to register. Learn about membership, including our fee assistance program.
Schedule Highlights
- Course starts on Thursday, April 3, and ends on Thursday, April 24
- Classes meet for 4 weeks, 2 hours per session (10–noon)
- Course materials will remain available to view and enjoy in Member Dashboards through May 31