summary of positive Aging by Mike feather and Mike Hepworth

It is widely acknowledged that Mike Hepworth's work, particularly his investigation of pictures and his research of the "mask of age," had had a significant impact on the development of gerontology. While the aging body in the mirror is not a reflection of the person gazing at it, it serves to conceal the hidden self, who is the cause of the aging. While Hepworth was less interested in asserting that the mask is somehow "genuine" and that one's own "agelessness," she was more concerned with the concept that the mask is merely a depiction of one's own "age." In 2000, Mike Hepworth published his landmark study on the depictions of aging in contemporary novels, which was deemed revolutionary at its publication (Hepworth, 2000). At the core of stories about growing older, according to him, is the connection between the external realities of everyday experience and our internal subjective worlds of desires, anxieties, fears, and fantasyland.

Over the last three weeks, I've been reviewing Mike's published work, and I've been amazed by how expertly he combines material that is generally available and readily accessible. Mike Hepworth, who died suddenly on Thursday at the age of 74, is recalled in a tribute film created by Bill Bytheway and Julia Johnson, who were also friends of Mike's. He claimed that he was heartbroken by the gaping vacuum that had been left in the field of sociobiology. He added that he hoped that his funeral address would be made available to those who had liked and cherished his work. Mr. Featherstone's family includes his wife Marian, their son Guy, his daughters and grandchildren, and his long-time colleague and friend Mike Featherstone, whom he met when the same firm employed both.