Visions of filth : deviancy and social control in the novels of Galdós / [electronic resource]
Fuentes Peris, Teresa,author.
This book explores how notions of deviancy and social control are dramatized in the novels of the late nineteenth-century Spanish realist author Benito Pérez Galdós. Galdós's treatment of prostitutes, alcoholics, beggars and vagrants is studied within the context of the socio-cultural and medical debates circulating during the period. Drawing on Foucault's very specific conceptualisation of the idea of control through discourses, the book analyses how Galdós's novels interacted with contemporary debates on poverty and deviancy - notably, discourses on hygiene, domesticity and philanthropy. It is proposed that Galdós's view of marginal social groups was much more open-minded, shrewd and liberal than the often inflexible pronouncements made by contemporary professional voices.
Title Page; Contents; Preface and Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1: The Miasmas of Poverty: The Lower Classes in 'Una visita al Cuarto Estado'; 2: The Control of Prostitution; 3: The Drink Problem; 4: The New Poor: Changing Attitudes to Poverty, Mendicity and Vagrancy; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index
Includes bibliographical references (p. [199]-212) and index.
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 11 Aug 2017).
This book explores how notions of deviancy and social control are dramatized in the novels of the late nineteenth-century Spanish realist author Benito Pérez Galdós. Galdós's treatment of prostitutes, alcoholics, beggars and vagrants is studied within the context of the socio-cultural and medical debates circulating during the period. Drawing on Foucault's very specific conceptualisation of the idea of control through discourses, the book analyses how Galdós's novels interacted with contemporary debates on poverty and deviancy - notably, discourses on hygiene, domesticity and philanthropy. It is proposed that Galdós's view of marginal social groups was much more open-minded, shrewd and liberal than the often inflexible pronouncements made by contemporary professional voices.
Pérez Galdós, Benito, 1843-1920
Deviant behavior in literature.
Social control in literature.
Prostitutes in literature.
Poverty in literature.
Alcoholism in literature.