Ageing and biography: the letters of Bernard and Mary Berenson

Concern with the state of theory in gerontology has led to growing interest in biography and in ordinary theorising about age. This article analyses two published volumes of letters in order to identify how the experience of ageing is interpreted and theorised in process rather than retrospectively. They provide evidence of a degree of complex theorising which is relevant to a more critical understanding of ageing as a social phenomenon. Gender is found to be highly pertinent, not least in the editorial processing of such biographical material.