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Technology, Self-Fashioning and Politeness in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Alun Withey
€ 71.93
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Description for Technology, Self-Fashioning and Politeness in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Hardback. This innovative book explores the role of cast steel in instruments for refining the body in the eighteenth century, amidst the changing climate of ideas surrounding 'polite' bodily form and appearance. Num Pages: 140 pages, biography. BIC Classification: 1DBK; 3JF; HBTB; JFCK. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 222 x 141 x 14. Weight in Grams: 372.
The second half of the eighteenth century brought important changes in attitudes towards shaping the body. New expectations of polite conduct, deportment and demeanour were projected onto the body, with emphasis laid upon neatness, elegance and a 'natural' body shape. Deformities were to be concealed, whilst bodily surfaces were managed to convey a harmonious whole. A large number of 'technologies of the body' were involved in this process, including wooden legs, elastic trusses, and even wigs. But the introduction of a new type of steel - cast steel - around 1750, offered new material possibilities for shaping the body. The ... Read more
The second half of the eighteenth century brought important changes in attitudes towards shaping the body. New expectations of polite conduct, deportment and demeanour were projected onto the body, with emphasis laid upon neatness, elegance and a 'natural' body shape. Deformities were to be concealed, whilst bodily surfaces were managed to convey a harmonious whole. A large number of 'technologies of the body' were involved in this process, including wooden legs, elastic trusses, and even wigs. But the introduction of a new type of steel - cast steel - around 1750, offered new material possibilities for shaping the body. The ... Read more
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2015
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan United Kingdom
Number of pages
140
Condition
New
Number of Pages
162
Place of Publication
Basingstoke, United Kingdom
ISBN
9781137467478
SKU
V9781137467478
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About Alun Withey
Alun Withey is a historian of medicine and the body, and a Wellcome Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK. Withey's work on the medical history of early modern Wales (2012) was awarded the EAHMH Book Prize in 2013. His current research project explores the health and hygiene history of facial hair in Britain c. 1700-1918.
Reviews for Technology, Self-Fashioning and Politeness in Eighteenth-Century Britain
“Divided into seven short chapters, Withey’s book … functions as a valuable introduction to the study of the intersection of consumer culture, new industrial processes (particularly the production of ‘cast’ or ‘crucible’ steel) and the cultivation of what Withey terms the ‘purposeful management of the body during the Enlightenment’. … Technology, Self-fashioning and Politeness in Eighteenth-century Britain is a very ... Read more