Killing swiftly: The effects of COVID-19 on the experience of the elderly

Scarre, Geoffrey

Abstract

This essay discusses the increase in the sense of vulnerability that many older people felt with the onset of COVID-19, which reverses the sense of security in old age which has been developing over recent decades. Pascal Bruckner’s book A Brief Eternity: The Philosophy of Longevity takes, as its starting premise, the idea that since 1945 “life has ceased to be short, as ephemeral as a passing train.” This was originally published in French in 2019 but, in the short interval since then, has become a very dubious proposition. The essay explores how attitudes towards mortality are changing among the elderly as life during COVID-19 once again takes on something of the sense of fragility that it possessed through most of history.

Citation

Scarre, G. (2022). Killing swiftly: The effects of COVID-19 on the experience of the elderly. In I. Gammel, & J. Wang (Eds.), Creative Resilience and COVID-19 (61-69). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003213536-8

• Online Publication Date: Mar 21, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: May 16, 2022
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 61-69
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Book Title: Creative Resilience and COVID-19
• Chapter Number: 5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003213536-8