To many people the idea that 'the body' has its own history might sound faintly ridiculous. The body and its experiences are usually seen as something that we share with people from the past. Like 'human nature', it represents the unchanging in a changing world. Bodies just are... But the body does have a history. The way that it moves, feels, breathes, and engages with the world has been viewed very differently across times and cultures. For centuries, 'we' were believed to be composed of souls that were part of the body ...
Read More
To many people the idea that 'the body' has its own history might sound faintly ridiculous. The body and its experiences are usually seen as something that we share with people from the past. Like 'human nature', it represents the unchanging in a changing world. Bodies just are... But the body does have a history. The way that it moves, feels, breathes, and engages with the world has been viewed very differently across times and cultures. For centuries, 'we' were believed to be composed of souls that were part of the body and inseparable from it. Now we exist in our heads, and our bodies have become the vessels for that uncertain and elusive thing we call our 'true selves'. The way we understand the material structure of the body has also changed radically over the centuries. From the bones to the skin, from the senses to the organs of sexual reproduction, every part of the body has an ever-changing history, dependent on time, culture, and place. This Mortal Coil is an exploration of that history. Peeling away our assumptions about the unchanging nature of the human body, Fay Bound Alberti takes it apart in order to put it back anew, telling the cultural history of our key organs and systems from the inside out, from blood to guts, brains to sex organs. The understanding of the 'modern body' she reveals in the process is far removed from the 'eternal' or timeless object of common assumption. In fact, she argues, its roots go back no further than the sixteenth century at the earliest - and it has only truly existed in its current form since the nineteenth century.
Read Less
Add this copy of This Mortal Coil to cart. $18.93, new condition, Sold by Pumpkin Wholesale Ltd rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Abingdon, Oxon, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2016 by Oxford University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
The body has a history. Although Hamlet's "mortal coil" is said to speak universal and unchanging truths about our physical and emotional experiences, conceptions of the body in Shakespeare's time were very different from our own today. The way the body is understood to move, feel, breathe andengage with the world differs across time, culture, and religious tradition, whether Jewish, Hindu, Christian, or Islamic. For centuries "we" were composed of souls that were part of the body and inseparable from the heart, the blood and the viscera. Now "we" exist in our heads, and the brain is thevessel for something indefinable and elusive-the "true self."In this path-breaking book, which will be scholarly yet provocative and accessible, Fay Bound Alberti explores these changes. The themes that This Mortal Coil explores, concerning the nature of the self, the relationship between the brain and the heart, the gendering of our physical and emotionalselves and the need to accommodate mind and body, emotions and experience within a comprehensive framework we can live with, are concerns as old as time. Focusing both on the center of the body and the surface, she provides a rich and intriguing history of the meanings of each layer (in medicine, art, and religion) as well as the ways historians have interpreted those layers: from the bones to the skin, from the senses to the sexual organs, each part has been seen in radically different ways through the ages. Together these account for the making of the modern body and a new understanding ofhow we view our selves.
Add this copy of This Mortal Coil: The Human Body in History and Culture to cart. $22.63, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2016 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of This Mortal Coil: The Human Body in History and Culture to cart. $23.06, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Oxford University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 304 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of This Mortal Coil: the Human Body in History and Culture to cart. $28.47, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Oxford University Press, USA.
Add this copy of This Mortal Coil: the Human Body in History and Culture to cart. $28.48, good condition, Sold by HPB-Red rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Oxford University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used textbooks may not include companion materials such as access codes, etc. May have some wear or writing/highlighting. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
