# Literary classics written in very advanced age (80+) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235 "2015-08-28T23:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235/21 "2015-08-30T16:19:40Z")
In Williamson’s case, his birthplace (Arizona) _became_ a state after he was born. Few people in 2001 could make that claim. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235/22 "2015-08-30T19:24:21Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I was going to mention _Young Men and Fire_. It’s an extraordinarily beautifully written book, and one of my favorites. Oh yeah. **Crotalus** referred that book to me and I am so glad he did. **Robertson Davies** was an older writer, if not past 80. Shoulda won a Nobel - his books are simply wonderful. **Wallace Stegner** was older than he should’ve been before he found fame. His book Crossing to Safety was a bestseller later in his life. He won both the Pulitzer and National Book Award in his 60’s. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235/23 "2015-08-30T20:10:09Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > **Robertson Davies** was an older writer, if not past 80. Shoulda won a Nobel - his books are simply wonderful. (checking Wikipedia…) His last novel, _The Cunning Man_, was published the year he turned 81. IIRC (it’s been a while since I read it) it was up to his usual high standards. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235/24 "2015-08-31T04:19:06Z")
Patrick O’Brian wrote his last Aubrey-Maturin novels in his eighties. The series is certainly a classic although the final few novels are arguably not quite up to par. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235/25 "2015-08-31T12:21:53Z")
Although he wrote his more famous works before he was 80, Voltaire continued to publish after he reached that age, including the drama **Irere**. ---
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235/26 "2015-08-31T14:26:40Z")
Not quite 80, but Frank McCourt was 66 when he published “Angela’s Ashes”, which won both the Pulitzer Prize for autobiography and the National Book Critics Circle award. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235/27 "2015-09-01T01:14:25Z")
Much of Thomas Hardy’s best poetry was written when he was in his 70s and 80s, after the death of his wife. It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s many more poets who wrote well at an old age. Toni Morrison is in her 80s, and still writing. I’ve not read her recent novels, but they’ve received some good reviews. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235/28 "2015-09-01T13:30:55Z")
I don’t know if this would count, but Charles Crichton, British movie director with “The Lavender Hill Mob” and some other Ealing classics in his curriculum, co-wrote and directed “A Fish Called Wanda” in 1988 when he was 78 years old. I humbly contend that “A Fish Called Wanda” is, indeed, a classic. It is not literature, but given that Crichton had co-writing credit in the script… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-classics-written-in-very-advanced-age-80/729235.md?page=1)