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Spectacle of Deformity: Freak Shows and Modern British Culture
Nadja Durbach
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Description for Spectacle of Deformity: Freak Shows and Modern British Culture
Hardback. In 1847, during the great age of the freak show, the British periodical Punch bemoaned the public's 'prevailing taste for deformity'. This work argues that far from being purely exploitative, displays of anomalous bodies served a deeper social purpose as they generated popular and scientific debates over the meanings attached to bodily difference. Num Pages: 288 pages, 15 b/w photographs. BIC Classification: 1DBK; 3JH; ASZW; HBTB. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 234 x 162 x 22. Weight in Grams: 528. Freak Shows and Modern British Culture. 288 pages, ill. In 1847, during the great age of the freak show, the British periodical Punch bemoaned the public's 'prevailing taste for deformity'. This work argues that far from being purely exploitative, displays of anomalous bodies served a deeper social purpose as they generated popular and scientific debates over the meanings attached to bodily difference. Cateogry: (G) General (US: Trade). BIC Classification: 1DBK; 3JH; ASZW; HBTB. Dimension: 234 x 162 x 22. Weight: 528.
In 1847, during the great age of the freak show, the British periodical Punch bemoaned the public's 'prevailing taste for deformity'. This vividly detailed work argues that far from being purely exploitative, displays of anomalous bodies served a deeper social purpose as they generated popular and scientific debates over the meanings attached to bodily difference. Nadja Durbach examines freaks both well-known and obscure including the Elephant Man; 'Lalloo, the Double-Bodied Hindoo Boy', a set of conjoined twins advertised as half male, half female; Krao, a seven-year-old hairy Laotian girl who was marketed as Darwin's 'missing link'; the 'Last of the ... Read more
In 1847, during the great age of the freak show, the British periodical Punch bemoaned the public's 'prevailing taste for deformity'. This vividly detailed work argues that far from being purely exploitative, displays of anomalous bodies served a deeper social purpose as they generated popular and scientific debates over the meanings attached to bodily difference. Nadja Durbach examines freaks both well-known and obscure including the Elephant Man; 'Lalloo, the Double-Bodied Hindoo Boy', a set of conjoined twins advertised as half male, half female; Krao, a seven-year-old hairy Laotian girl who was marketed as Darwin's 'missing link'; the 'Last of the ... Read more
Product Details
Publisher
University of California Press
Number of pages
288
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2009
Condition
New
Weight
534g
Number of Pages
288
Place of Publication
Berkerley, United States
ISBN
9780520257689
SKU
V9780520257689
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1
About Nadja Durbach
Nadja Durbach is Associate Professor of History at the University of Utah. She is the author of Bodily Matters: The Anti Vaccination Movement in England, 1853-1907.
Reviews for Spectacle of Deformity: Freak Shows and Modern British Culture
"This is a marvelously researched and engagingly written work of history." Bulletin Of The History Of Medicine "Spectacle of Deformity is a detailed and provocative history of the Victorian freak show in Great Britain." Victorian Studies