• English & American cultural studies
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.27-50
• /
• 2018

Old age is often compared as climbing mountains which requires walking out of breath, yet with wider vision. And it is also likened to the estuary where the river flows slowly and broadly into the open sea. Socially, old age has been regarded as a symbol of wisdom and reflection, and elderly people often take the role of sage who leads the community. On the other hand, the dementia, gray hair and wrinkles of old age were sometimes perceived as the decline of intellect and vitality. Especially, in the digital age in which technology makes people more sensitive to physical artificiality, the evaluation of the old age becomes more complex and obscure. In other words, some elderly people can not escape from Confucious convention of the elders first, which causes the denouncement by younger generations. On the other hand, some elderly people are becoming more adaptable to the trend of young people, emerging as the new elderly people. The anti-aging movement, early adaptation of IT, bioengineering regimen also strong for the advanced age. However, as the new elderly people are active in many fields of society, they also face intergenerational conflicts in some areas where remains the overlap between young people and them due to the limited openings in economy and culture. This study is a transdisciplinary research which can be called old age humanities. First of all, this paper looks at the aspects of lifestyles and intergeneration conflicts in old age in four Korean and Western literary works about the old people, and also searches how to improve the quality of the later life of old people, Overall, this paper aims to explore the way the old people can achieve the full life with the help of intergenerational dependency through building aging humanities and new communities for old people.