Seminar with Ieva Stončikaitė: "Ageing & Intergenerational encounters in Roald Dahl’s ‘The Landlady’"

Co-hosted by the Centre for Gender Studies, Sociology and KUFO, KAU

Ieva Stončikaitė (Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona, Spain)

Ageing & Intergenerational encounters in Roald Dahl’s ‘The Landlady’

This lecture is divided into two parts. In the first part, I will introduce my primary field of research — cultural & literary gerontology. I will briefly explain the evolution of this discipline within gerontological scholarship and will outline the main objectives and purposes. The second part will be focused on the representation of female ageing and intergenerational encounters in a popular short story written by Roald Dahl ‘The Landlady.’ This aim is to demonstrate how cultural & literary gerontology can be applied to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of growing older and intergenerational relationships. We will also delve into the horror genre that helps explore the dynamics of ageing, sexuality, dementia, fears of old age, and the uncanny and dark aspects of humanity, as portrayed in Dahl’s macabre narrative.

Dr. Ieva Stončikaitė holds a PhD, which focused on the intersection of ageing, sexuality, body politics, and the literary creation in the works of Erica Jong. Ieva is a member of the research group GrupDedal-Lit (U of Lleida, Spain) in collaboration with the SIforAGE project, and a member of the ENAS Advisory Board. She is also affiliated with the TCAS (Trent U, Canada) and ACT (Concordia U, Canada). Her current research interests include cultural gerontology, leisure and sexual tourism, and social innovation related to active and healthy ageing. Ieva has also co-taught as assistant lecturer at the Department of English and Linguistics at the U of Lleida.