Nineteenth Century Popular Fiction, Medicine and Anatomy: The Victorian Penny Blood and the 1832 Anatomy ACT 2019 Edition Contributor(s): Gasperini, Anna (Author) |
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ISBN: 3030109151 ISBN-13: 9783030109158 Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan OUR PRICE: $94.99 Product Type: Hardcover Published: February 2019 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Modern - 19th Century - Medical | History - Philosophy | Ethics & Moral Philosophy |
Dewey: 171.7 |
Series: Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine |
Physical Information: 0.69" H x 5.83" W x 8.27" (1.06 lbs) 253 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: This book investigates the relationship between the fascinating and misunderstood penny blood, early Victorian popular fiction for the working class, and Victorian anatomy. In 1832, the controversial Anatomy Act sanctioned the use of the body of the pauper for teaching dissection to medical students, deeply affecting the Victorian poor. The ensuing decade, such famous penny bloods as Manuscripts from the Diary of a Physician, Varney the Vampyre, Sweeney Todd, and The Mysteries of London addressed issues of medical ethics, social power, and bodily agency. Challenging traditional views of penny bloods as a lowlier, un-readable genre, this book rereads these four narratives in the light of the 1832 Anatomy Act, putting them in dialogue with different popular artistic forms and literary genres, as well as with the spaces of death and dissection in Victorian London, exploring their role as channels for circulating discourses about anatomy and ethics among the Victorian poor. |