Tuberculosis and Disabled Identity in Nineteenth Century Literature

Invalid Lives

Alex Tankard (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

IX, 238 Seiten

2018 | 1st ed. 2018
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-71445-5 (ISBN)

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Until the nineteenth century, consumptives were depicted as sensitive, angelic beings whose purpose was to die beautifully and set an example of pious suffering - while, in reality, many people with tuberculosis faced unemployment, destitution, and an unlovely death in the workhouse. Focusing on the period 1821-1912, in which modern ideas about disease, disability, and eugenics emerged to challenge Romanticism and sentimentality, Invalid Lives examines representations of nineteenth-century consumptives as disabled people. Letters, self-help books, eugenic propaganda, and press interviews with consumptive artists suggest that people with tuberculosis were disabled as much by oppressive social structures and cultural stereotypes as by the illness itself. Invalid Lives asks whether disruptive consumptive characters in Wuthering Heights , Jude the Obscure , The Idiot , and Beatrice Harraden's 1893 New Woman novel Ships That Pass in the Night represented critical, politicised models of disabled identity (and disabled masculinity) decades before the modern disability movement.

Alexandra Tankard obtained a BA in English and Philosophy from Keele University, and an MA in Victorian Literature and PhD in English from the University of Liverpool.

1. Introduction.- 2. Medical and Social Influences on Consumptive Identity.- 3. Victimhood and Death: Consumptive Stereotypes in Fiction and Nonfiction.- 4. 'I hate everybody!': The Unnatural Consumptive in Wuthering Heights.- 5. 'Too much misery in the world': Protest in Jude the Obscure (1895) and Ippolit's 'Necessary Explanation' in The Idiot (1869).- 6. Progress: Valid Invalid Identity in Ships that Pass in the Night (1893).- 7. Conclusion.

"Tuberculosis and Disabled Identity in Nineteenth Century Literature is a spirited and rewarding study of that long and variegated process of 'giving way,' where change takes hold, if only temporarily." (Maria Frawley, Nineteenth-Century Prose, Vol. 46 (2), 2019)

"The points in Tuberculosis and Disabled Identity are made elegantly and with convincing supporting examples. And the book's organisation is logical, lending further satisfaction. ... There is much to be gained from this book, including the seemingly simple but actually far-reaching realisation that not all Victorian representations of 'consumption' should automatically be understood to represent 'tuberculosis'." (Heidi Logan, The Wilkie Collins Journal, October, 2019)

"Tuberculosis and DisabledIdentity is an intensely informative text, which puts forward challenging and nuanced theories and readings while still remaining accessible to the reader. It offers a new and exciting perspective on nineteenth century fiction which engages with the literary tradition of depicting the 'consumptive', and does so in a fascinating, thought-provoking, and enlightening way." (Emily Jessica Turner, The British Society for Literature and Science, bsls.ac.uk, October 30, 2018)

Erscheinungsdatum	26.02.2018
Reihe/Serie	Literary Disability Studies
Zusatzinfo	IX, 238 p.
Verlagsort	Cham
Sprache	englisch
Maße	148 x 210 mm
Gewicht	434 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturgeschichte
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
Schlagworte	Charles Dickens • Culture • Disabled identity • Disease • Emily Bronte • Medicine • Tuberculosis nineteenth century literature • Victorian
ISBN-10	3-319-71445-7 / 3319714457
ISBN-13	978-3-319-71445-5 / 9783319714455
Zustand	Neuware