The Science of Starving in Victorian Literature, Medicine, and Political Economy

The book has a substantial introduction with many references that show Mangham's wide interests and competences. It clarifies the key concept at hand, which is corporeal materialism, a biology-based approach that dissected and refuted conservative Malthusian ideas. * Peter Scholliers, Victorian Studies *
The Science of Starving is a fascinating study which combines analysis of medical, social, and literary texts. Deeply interdisciplinary, the book considers the ideological conflict between Malthusian political economy and a more scientifically rigorous physiological analysis of hunger, and how this conflict was explored in the language of nineteenth century literature. * Emily Jessica Turner, British Association for Victorian Studies Newsletter *
The Science of Starving raises provocative questions about the moral and ontological commitments of fiction, political economy, and medicine vis-à-vis a humanitarian crisis that shows no signs of abating. * Tabitha Sparks, Dickens Quarterly *
This book marshals large bodies of material - literary, medical, political and religious - whilst remaining accessible and succinct... the volume makes an important contribution not only to our understanding of Victorian literature and medicine but also the nature of material knowledge and the relationship between matter and truth. * Manon Mathias, Social History of Medicine *
The first monograph to focus on the comparatively broad subject of extreme hunger in Victorian literature and culture, expanding beyond other studies' narrower emphases on fasting, anorexia, or the Irish Potato Famine. As the title denotes, Mangham situates literary representations of starving bodies in relation to two nineteenth-century cultural contexts, political economy and medical science. Through a meticulous analysis of ample source material, from miscellaneous letters and pamphlets to scientific periodicals, Mangham shows how these two disciplines offered divergent perspectives on the pervasiveness of hunger in Victorian Britain. * Diana Rose Newby, Literature and Medicine *
Mangham does a good job of blending the works of these writers with Victorian understandings of the human body and the economic impact of starvation. The book is clear and well written... * A. White, Grand Valley State University, CHOICE *