Spectacle of Deformity : Freak Shows and Modern British Culture /

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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 generate...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Durbach, Nadja, 1971-
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:Inglés
Published: Berkeley : University of California Press, 2010.
Series:Book collections on Project MUSE.
Subjects:
Human body > Social aspects.
Freak shows.
Abnormalities, Human.
HISTORY > Europe > General.
PERFORMING ARTS > Circus.
Medecine > Histoire > 19e siecle.
Corps humain > Aspect social > Grande-Bretagne > Histoire > 19e siecle.
Exhibitions de monstres > Grande-Bretagne > Histoire > 19e siecle.
History, 19th Century
Congenital Abnormalities > history
Human body > Social aspects > Great Britain > History > 19th century.
Freak shows > Great Britain > History > 19th century.
Abnormalities, Human > Great Britain > History > 19th century.
Great Britain.
United Kingdom
History.
Electronic books.
Online Access:Texto completo
Description
Summary: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 wh.
Physical Description:1 online resource (288 pages): illustrations
ISBN:9780520944893

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