Altered states : sex, nation, drugs, and self-transformation in Victorian spiritualism / Marlene Tromp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tromp, Marlene, 1966-

Series:

SUNY series, studies in the long nineteenth century.

SUNY series, studies in the long nineteenth century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spiritualism--England.

Spiritualism.

England--Religion--19th century.

England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (261 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Altered States examines the rise of Spiritualism—the religion of séances, mediums, and ghostly encounters—in the Victorian period and the role it played in undermining both traditional female roles and the rhetoric of imperialism. Focusing on a particular kind of séance event—the full-form materialization—and the bodies of the young, female mediums who performed it, Marlene Tromp argues that in the altered state of the séance new ways of understanding identity and relationships became possible. This not only demonstrably shaped the thinking of the Spiritualists, but also the popular consciousness of the period. In diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, scientific reports, and popular fiction, Tromp uncovers evidence that the radical views presented in the faith permeated and influenced mainstream Victorian thought.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Spirit Made Flesh

Spirited Sexuality

Wedding Stories / Ghost Stories

Ghosts of Home

Ghostly Erotics and Imperialism in the Victorian Drawing Room

Economics, Race, and The Specter Of Class

Drunk With Power

Transforming The Self

Under the Influence

Haunted

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-223) and index.

ISBN:

9780791481936

079148193X

9781429417341

142941734X

OCLC:

77176968