| Description |
x, 200 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
1. Disability, Identity, and Representation: An Introduction -- 2. Theorizing Disability -- 3. The Cultural Work of American Freak Shows, 1835-1940 -- 4. Benevolent Maternalism and the Disabled Women in Stowe, Davis, and Phelps -- 5. Disabled Women as Powerful Women in Petry, Morrison, and Lorde -- Conclusion: From Pathology to Identity |
| Summary |
As the first major critical study to examine literary and cultural representations of physical disability, Extraordinary Bodies situates disability as a social construction, shifting it from a property of bodies to a product of cultural rules about what bodies should be or do. Rosemarie Garland Thomson examines disabled figures in sentimental novels such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and Rebecca Harding Davis's Life in the Iron Mills, African-American novels by Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde, and the popular cultural ritual of the freak show. Extraordinary Bodies inaugurates a new field of disability studies in the humanities by framing disability as a minority discourse, rather than a medical one, ultimately revising oppressive narratives of disability and revealing liberatory ones |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [173]-189) and index |
| Subject |
American fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism.
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American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
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Amusement parks -- United States -- History.
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Human body in literature.
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Feminism and literature -- United States.
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Human body -- Social aspects.
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People with disabilities in literature.
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People with disabilities -- Social aspects.
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People with disabilities -- Social conditions.
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Popular culture -- United States -- History.
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Sideshows -- United States -- History.
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Women in literature.
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| Author |
American Council of Learned Societies.
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| LC no. |
96021998 |
| ISBN |
0231105169 (cloth : acid-free paper) |
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0231105177 (paper : acid-free paper) |
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