Book of Skin

Name: Book of Skin
Price: 1094 SEK
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780801488931

AvSteven Connor

Häftad, Engelska, 2003

1 094 kr

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Beskrivning

Skin, Steven Connor argues, has never been more visible. The Book of Skin explores the multiple functions of the skin in the cultures of the West. In this vividly illustrated book, Connor draws on evidence from a variety of sources including literary and other forms of public and private writing, especially medical texts, as well as painting, photography, and film, folklore and popular song.Because of its newfound visibility, skin has never been at once so manifest and so in jeopardy as it is today. This dilemma becomes evident, in Connor's view, if we examine how skin is displayed and manipulated as a site of inscription. In order to trace our culture's anxious concerns with the materiality and mortality of skin, Connor's analysis ranges from the human body itself to photography, from Medieval leprosy, Renaissance flaying, and eternal syphilis to cosmetics, plastic surgery, and skin cancers.Connor examines the chromatics of skin color and pigmentation, blushing, suntanning, paleness, darkening, tattooing, cutting, the Turin shroud, the Mummy, and the Invisible Man. He also offers engaging explanations for why particular colors are ascribed to feelings and conditions such as green for envy, purple for rage, and yellow for cowardice. Connor's insights into the obvious and yet unfamiliar terrain of the skin and its place in Western culture ameliorates the intensities and attenuations of touch in cultural history. The Book of Skin bears out James Joyce's claim that "modern man has an epidermis rather than a soul."

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2003-12-08
Mått:156 x 235 x undefined mm
Vikt:709 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:304
Förlag:Cornell University Press
ISBN:9780801488931

Utforska kategorier

Kulturvetenskap inom Samhälle och politik
Antropologi inom Samhälle och politik

Mer om författaren

Steven Connor is Professor of Modern Literature and Theory in the School of English and Humanities at Birkbeck College, London.

Recensioner i media

"Professor Steven Connor's book, a rather gothic yet highly enjoyable history of human skin, finds new substance in Sartre's thoughts. Connor uses post-war French philosophy as the frame through which he views the long history of writing and reflecting upon skin, from Classical and Renaissance medical treatises through to our modern taste for tattooing and aromatherapy oils."—The Daily Telegraph, January 12, 2004