On Aging: Revolt and Resignation

Vienna-born Amery (1911-1978), who wrote of his Auschwitz experiences in At the Mind's Limits, originally presented these essays on aging and death as radio talks in Brussels, where he relocated after the war. Each piece deals with an aspects of growing old; each is designed to be disturbing; all are heavily embellished with references to German and French literature (Mann, Proust, Sartre et al.). Determinedly unsanguine, Amery holds to the position that aging is an unpleasant destiny about which nothing can be done. Meditative and dourly uncompromising, these essays are intellectual constructs that make heavy demands on the general reader. (Sept.)