本文借用艾德華．薩依德所提出的「晚期風格」，以及日本作家芥川龍之介、川端康成所提出的「臨終之眼」之說，認為楊絳生前出版的最後一本散文集《走到人生邊上－自問自答》，乃其寫作生涯中的變異，指出此書雖繼承柏拉圖《對話錄．裴多》中蘇格拉底的觀點，認為人的生命由靈魂與肉體合一而成，靈魂不隨著肉體而死，但不代表這本書就沒有原創與特殊之處。本論文從三方面論述其變異所在，並在結論中說明，這本書流露了楊絳身為一位越來越迫近死亡的高齡老人對人生終極的、帶有神秘性與超越性的「靈性」需求，也展現了她獨特的人生智慧，使她堪稱「成熟型的老人」，是一種成功老化的典範。

Following the concept of Latter Style framed by Edward W. Said and the idea of end-of-life perception proposed by Yasunari Kawabata, this paper discusses how Reaching the Brink of Life-Yang Jiang's last prose-differs from her previous works. In this work, Yang Jiang argued life consists of spirit and flesh and that keeping our spirits up will prevent it from dampening as flesh aging. Though it inherits the idea of Socrates in the Phaedo, it does not suggest this work is neither ordinary nor trivial. Furthermore, Reaching the Brink of Life reveals the ultimate and mysterious demand of an elderly person facing imminent death for spirituality and life wisdom. Yang Jiang is an example of ＂sapient senior＂- demonstrating the matureness and wisdom that an elderly accumulated during adulthood at the end of life.