When Toula's father in 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' says to his daughter (age 30) 'you look so old' or when Don DeLillo's protagonist (age 28) 'feels old' in 'Cosmopolis', these young characters are attributed an age awareness that has received little attention in age studies so far. Leaving aside chronological or biological dimensions of age, this study approaches age as a metaphoric practice, suggesting that 'feeling old' is not to be taken literally but metaphorically. The book examines the cultural meanings of age and aging for characters who are in their twenties and thirties and challenges often-quoted labels such as late-coming-of-age story or perpetual adolescence.

Anita Wohlmann (PhD) is a postdoctoral researcher at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. As of November 2017, she will be Assistant Professor of Literature and Narrative Medicine at the University of Southern Denmark. Her research project 'Body and Metaphor: Narrative-Based Metaphor Analysis in Medical Humanities' is funded by the German Research Foundation (2017-2020). Her research focuses on age studies, American film and culture studies and medical humanities.