Title Spectacle of deformity : freak shows and modern British culture / Nadja Durbach.

Descript 1 online resource (xiii, 273 p.) Bibliog. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents Cover -- Table of Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Monstrosity, Masculinity, and Medicine -- 2. Two Bodies, Two Selves, Two Sexes -- 3. The Missing Link and the Hairy Belle -- 4. Aztecs and Earthmen -- 5. "When the Cannibal King Began to Talk" -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. Summary In 1847, during the great age of the freak show, the British periodical Punch bemoaned the public's "prevailing taste for deformity." This vividly detailed work argues that far from being purely exploitative, displays of anomalous bodies served a deeper social purpose as they generated popular and scientific debates over the meanings attached to bodily difference. Nadja Durbach examines freaks both well-known and obscure including the Elephant Man; "Lalloo, the Double-Bodied Hindoo Boy," a set of conjoined twins advertised as half male, half female; Krao, a seven-year-old hairy Laotian girl wh Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide Subject Abnormalities, Human -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century. Freak shows -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century. Human body -- Social aspects -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century. Congenital Abnormalities -- history -- Great Britain. History, 19th Century -- Great Britain. Abnormalities, Human. (OCoLC)fst00794451 Freak shows. (OCoLC)fst00933820 Human body -- Social aspects. (OCoLC)fst01730101 Great Britain. (OCoLC)fst01204623 PERFORMING ARTS -- Circus. HISTORY -- Europe -- General. 1800-1899 ISBN 9780520944893 ebook 0520944895 9780520257689 (cloth : alk. paper) 0520257685 (cloth : alk. paper) 1282359975 9781282359970