ABSTRACT
Willa Cather's story Neighbor Rosicky tells something about the potential satisfactions and sorrows that aging can bring. Anton Rosicky “thought of city cemeteries; acres of shrubbery and heavy stone, so arranged and lonely and unlike anything in the living world”. It was a place of ongoing life: “Nothing could be more undeathlike than this place; nothing could be more right for a man who had helped to do the work of great cities and had always longed for the open country and had got to it at last”. In her story 'Little Selves', Mary Lerner portrays the joys and sorrows of aging, but with a different emphasis. Lerner highlights the potential meaning in remembering our younger selves as we let go of life. In 'The Middle Years', Henry James explores the ravages of premature aging and also hints at what can modulate its pain. Generativity can be seen in emotion theory terms, as providing positive feelings that balance negative affects.
