Ugliness
Subtitle: a cultural history
By: Gretchen E. Henderson
Publisher: Reaktion Books, Limited
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9781780235240
Subjects: Ugliness; Social aspects; History
Description: "'Ugly as sin', 'ugly duckling', 'rear its ugly head'. The word 'ugly' is used freely, yet it is a loaded term: from the simply plain and unsightly to the repulsive and even offensive, definitions slide all over the place. Hovering around 'feared and dreaded', ugliness both repels and fascinates. But the concept of ugliness has a lineage that has long haunted our cultural imagination. Gretchen E. Henderson explores perceptions of ugliness through history, from ancient Roman feasts to medieval grotesque gargoyles, from Mary Shelley's monster cobbled from corpses to the Nazi Exhibition of Degenerate Art. Covering literature, art, music and even Uglydolls, Henderson reveals how ugliness has long posed a challenge to aesthetics and taste. Henderson digs into the muck of ugliness, moving beyond the traditional philosophic argument or mere opposition to beauty, and emerges with more than a selection of fascinating tidbits. Following ugly bodies and dismantling ugly senses across periods and continents, [this book] draws on a wealth of fields to cross cultures and times, delineating the changing map of ugliness as it charges the public imagination. Illustrated with a range of artefacts, this book offers a refreshing perspective that moves beyond the surface to ask what 'ugly' truly is, even as its meaning continues to shift"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : Pretty ugly: a question of culture; title: Ugly ones: uncomfortable anomalies : Polyphemus: 'a monster of a man' ; Dame Ragnell: 'She was a loathly one!' ; A grotesque old woman: 'the ugly duchess' ; William Hay: 'never was, nor will be, a member of the ugly club' ; Julia Pastrana: 'the ugliest woman in the world' ; Orlan: 'a beautiful woman who is deliberately becoming ugly' ; Ugly ones: uncomfortably grouped; title: Ugly groups: resisting classification : Monsters and monstrosities: bordering uglies ; Outcasts and outward signs: signifying uglies ; Primitives and Venuses: colonizing uglies ; Broken faces and degenerate bodies: militarizing uglies ; Ugly laws and ugly dolls: legislating uglies ; Uglies united?: Commercializing ugly groups; title: Ugly senses: transgressing perceived borders : Ugly sight: seeing is believing ; ugly sound: do you hear what I hear? ; Ugly smell: a nose for trouble ; Ugly taste: are you what you eat? ; Ugly touch: do not touch? ; Sixth sense: feeling is believing; title: Epilogue : Ugly us: a cultural quest?