Plain ugly : the unattractive body in early modern culture / Naomi Baker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baker, Naomi, 1974- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ugliness in literature.

Ugliness in art.

Abnormalities, Human, in literature.

Abnormalities, Human, in art.

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism.

English literature.

European literature--History and criticism.

European literature.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 pages) : illustrations; digital file(s).

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK : Manchester University Press, 2018.

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

data file

Summary:

Plain ugly examines depictions of physically repellent characters in a striking range of early modern literary and visual texts, offering fascinating insights into the ways in which ugliness and deformity were perceived and represented, particularly with regard to gender and the construction of identity. The book focuses closely on English literary culture but also engages with wider European perspectives, drawing on a wide array of primary sources including Italian and other European visual art. Offering illuminating close readings of texts from both high and low culture, it will interest scholars in English literature, cultural studies, women's studies, history and art history, as well as postgraduate and undergraduate students in these disciplines. As an accessible and absorbing account of the power dynamics informing depictions of ugliness (and beauty) in relation to some of the quirkiest literary and visual material to be found in early modern culture, it will also appeal to a wider audience.

Contents:

Introduction : ugly subjects in early modern England

Theorising ugliness

'Charactered in my brow' : deciphering ugly faces

Opening the Silenus : gendering the ugly subject

'Sight of her is a vomit' : abject bodies and Burton's The anatomy of melancholy

'To make love to a deformity' : praising ugliness

Sacrificing beauty : defeatured women.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print record.

ISBN:

1-5261-2968-X

OCLC:

1085654723