Embodied Selves

An Anthology of Psychological Texts 1830-1890

Jenny Bourne Taylor editor Sally Shuttleworth editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:26th Feb '98

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Embodied Selves cover

This anthology of primary materials will help redraw our understanding of the complexity and range of Victorian psychological thought and its relations to the wider cultural framework of the era. Drawing together an unprecedented range of materials from scientific, medical, and cultural sources, it charts changing notions of selfhood and bodily identity in the emerging sciences (and pseudo-sciences) of psychology and psychiatry. Areas covered include: physiognomy, phrenology, and mesmerism; theories of dreams, memory, and the unconscious; female and masculine sexuality; insanity and nervous disorders; and theories of degeneration. The book illuminates both the diversity and vitality of psychology in the pre-Freudian era and will help correct many of our misconceptions about theories of sexuality and the unconscious at this time. Embodies Selves will be of interest to both specialist and non-specialist audiences in the areas of cultural, literary, historical, and gender studies.

For decades, scholars of Victorian history, literature, and culture have referred to nineteenth-century psychiatric thinking about such topics as mesmerism, hysteria, moral management, race, and sexuality, but the major texts in these debates have been scattered and unavailable outside major libraries. Now Embodied Selves brings the most important essays of Victorian psychiatry, from George Combe to Havelock Ellis, together in one volume. Brilliantly chosen and organized, these essays will transform our understanding of Victorian narrative and its discontents. * Elaine Showalter, Princeton University *

ISBN: 9780198710424

Dimensions: 234mm x 157mm x 25mm

Weight: 704g

450 pages