Physiognomy and the meaning of expression in nineteenth-century culture
By: Lucy Hartley.
Series: Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture ;; 29
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 258
Subjects: Physiognomy -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; Expression -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Description: "In Physiognomy and the Meaning of Expression in Nineteenth-Century Culture, Lucy Hartley examines the emergence of physiognomy as a form of popular science. Physiognomy posited an understanding of the inner meaning of human character from observations of physical appearances, usually facial expressions. Taking the physiognomical teachings of Johann Caspar Lavater as a starting-point, Hartley considers the extent to which attempts to read the mind and judge character through expression can provide descriptions of human nature. She argues that the writings of Charles Bell, and the Pre-Raphaelites establish the significance of the physiognomical tradition for the study of expression whilst also preparing the ground for the rise of new doctrines for the expression of emotion by Alexander Bain and Herbert Spencer. She then demonstrates how the evolutionary explanation of expression proposed by Spencer and Charles Darwin is both the outcome of the physiognomical tradition and the reason for its dissolution."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.