Abstract: Based on the material of the prose of William Folkner (first of all, the novels “Sartoris” and “Go Down, Moses”), the phenomenon of old age is investigated as a literary problem. The object of the research is the philosophical aspects of the gerontological story in Falkner's prose. The subject of the research is the literary world created by the author, individual aesthetic movements in the creation of the images of elderly people. The authors analyze Faulkner's concept versus the concept of Ernest Hemingway who used the present moment as the narrative time. Not only young heroes of his early writings but also such characters as Santiago in his novel 'The Old Man and the Sea' live in the presence. The methodological basis of the research is the principles of philosophical literary studies that allow to evaluate the artistic world of the writer as an element of his worldview. The authors conclude that Faulkner views old age not only as an age but a certain state of mind, emotional memory, balance and wisdom combined with kindness. Faulnker relates memory and old age to such categories as eternity, while he relates young age and blindness to the categories of temporality and accident.