Deborah Keser is a British author, journalist, and translator who have written extensively about women’s issues pertaining to relationships. She currently teaches at the Center for Language and Culture Studies at Deakin University in Australia. In recent years, Ms. Keser has taken on an even larger project, that of editing the book of the late psychiatrist and human rights advocate, Anatole Brogans. With the help of a number of other contributors, Ms. Keser has assembled an illuminating, intimate, and insightful book that explore the many dimensions of Brogans life and work, as well as offering suggestions on how to keep a relationship alive into old age. I have read a number of Ms. Keser’s books and enjoyed them, so I was curious to learn more about this newly titled volume in her catalog of English essays, which I found to be very rich in perspective, as well as featuring some excellent key examples.
Some of the themes that run through Anatole Brogans Life are – ageism, nationality, sex roles, the media, hierarchy, motherhood, and professional success. The essays examine these topics and deal with how each of these themes informs our relationship with others. For example, ageism is described as “the assumption that human beings at a particular age are capable of experiencing the same social, emotional, and psychological experiences as older people.” While it would seem logical that people of a certain age would have different understandings of time, it is not supported by the essays. One theme that runs throughout the book is that of the nationality of the individual, particularly with regard to nationality or race.
Deborah Keser argues that while the public perception of what an older woman may be is based upon her chronological age, that understanding of what a younger woman may be like goes beyond age. By examining the way in which nationality is related to career choices, she provides a valuable aid to understanding how race and gender influence the choices we make in our careers. In addition to looking at the ways in which age, sex, and nationalities influence our choices regarding a career, she makes helpful suggestions about how these choices may influence a relationship between partners. While some relationships go beyond the bounds of race and nationality, many begin with a common interest and later develop into a loving and committed relationship.