| Altered States: Sex, Nation, Drugs, and Self-Transformation in Victorian Spiritualism Contributor(s): Tromp, Marlene (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0791467392 ISBN-13: 9780791467398 Publisher: State University of New York Press OUR PRICE: $90.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: July 2006 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Body, Mind & Spirit | Spiritualism - General - History | Modern - 19th Century - Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
| Dewey: 133.909 |
| LCCN: 2005016024 |
| Series: SUNY Series, Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century |
| Physical Information: 0.81" H x 6.28" W x 9.06" (1.04 lbs) 233 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Cultural Region - British Isles - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Altered States examines the rise of Spiritualism--the religion of s ances, mediums, and ghostly encounters--in the Victorian period and the role it played in undermining both traditional female roles and the rhetoric of imperialism. Focusing on a particular kind of s ance event--the full-form materialization--and the bodies of the young, female mediums who performed it, Marlene Tromp argues that in the altered state of the s ance new ways of understanding identity and relationships became possible. This not only demonstrably shaped the thinking of the Spiritualists, but also the popular consciousness of the period. In diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, scientific reports, and popular fiction, Tromp uncovers evidence that the radical views presented in the faith permeated and influenced mainstream Victorian thought. |