Invalidism and identity in nineteenth-century Britain / Maria H. Frawley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Frawley, Maria H., 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chronic diseases--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Chronic diseases.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (301 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Nineteenth-century Britain did not invent chronic illness, but its social climate allowed hundreds of men and women, from intellectuals to factory workers, to assume the identity of "invalid." Whether they suffered from a temporary condition or an incurable disease, many wrote about their experiences, leaving behind an astonishingly rich and varied record of disability in Victorian Britain. Using an array of primary sources, Maria Frawley here constructs a cultural history of invalidism. She describes the ways that Evangelicalism, industrialization, and changing patterns of doctor/patient relationships all converged to allow a culture of invalidism to flourish, and explores what it meant for a person to be designated-or to deem oneself-an invalid. Highlighting how different types of invalids developed distinct rhetorical strategies, her absorbing account reveals that, contrary to popular belief, many of the period's most prominent and prolific invalids were men, while many women found invalidism an unexpected opportunity for authority. In uncovering the wide range of cultural and social responses to notions of incapacity, Frawley sheds light on our own historical moment, similarly fraught with equally complicated attitudes toward mental and physical disorder.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. "ALL MY AFFLICTIONS": Invalids and Authority in Nineteenth-Century Britain

2. "BEYOND HOPE, HELP, OR REMEDY": Confession, Cure, and the Hypochondriac's Narrative

3. "IN SEARCH OF HEALTH": Invalids Abroad

4. "SIN-SICK SOULS": Christian Invalids and the Literature of Consolation

5. "THE RANGE OF OUR VISION": Self, Surveillance, and Life in the Sickroom

AFTERWORD. CENTERS, MARGINS, AND VANISHING POINTS: Locating Invalidism in the Nineteenth Century

WORKS CITED

INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-278) and index.

ISBN:

9786612901867

9781282901865

1282901869

9780226261225

0226261220

OCLC:

690177996