Criminals as animals from Shakespeare to Lombroso / Greta Olson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Olson, Greta, author.

Series:

Law & literature (De Gruyter) ; volume 8.

Law & literature, 2191-8457 ; volume 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminology.

Metaphor in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (366 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin : De Gruyter, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Criminals as Animals from Shakespeare to Lombroso demonstrates how animal metaphors have been used to denigrate persons identified as criminal in literature, law, and science. Its three-part history traces the popularization of the 'criminal beast' metaphor in late sixteenth-century England, the troubling of the trope during the long eighteenth century, and the late nineteenth-century discovery of criminal atavism. With chapters on rogue pamphlets, Shakespeare, Webster, Jonson, Defoe and Swift, Godwin, Dickens, and Lombroso, the book illustrates how ideologically inscribed metaphors foster transfers between law, penal practices, and literature. Criminals as Animals concludes that criminal-animal metaphors continue to negatively influence the treatment of prisoners, suspected terrorists, and the poor even today.

Contents:

part I. Creating 'criminal beasts' in early modern literature and law

part II. Humanizing animals and 'animalizing' the lower orders during the long eighteenth century

part III. Reinstating the 'criminal beast' during the nineteenth century.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed April 12, 2014).

ISBN:

9783110339840

3110339846

OCLC:

870946367