Mesmerized
Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain
Format:Paperback
Publisher:The University of Chicago Press
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Thousands of men and women all across Britain in the Victorian age were being mesmerized, twisted into bizarre postures and speaking out in unknown languages, and the Victorians were literally entranced with this phenomenon. The text focuses on mesmerism: who was entranced, who did the entrancing, why mesmerism was such a compelling experience to so many and how it became equally powerful evidence of fraud and "unscientific" behaviour to many others. It illuminates dark areas of the relationship between science and society, allowing the assessment of the role of authority in particular social contexts: who draws the line between the bogus and the authentic and how is the boundary maintained? More fundamentally, what is the nature of the powers that wield, and the influences that bind humans together in a social body?
- Winner of North American Council on British Studies British Council Prize 1999
ISBN: 9780226902234
Dimensions: 23mm x 16mm x 3mm
Weight: 680g
480 pages