Overview

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the body was a key focus of discourse. Fat and the Body in the Long Nineteenth Century animates discussion and analyses of fatness, highlighting how corporeal expectations fit into larger social systems and showing how interpretations have shifted over time. This collection examines a host of primary sources including literature, art, medical treatises, journalism, political cartoons, soldiers' letters home, and popular fiction to identify trends in how fat was perceived and promoted in the English-speaking world over the long nineteenth century. Divided into four thematic sections, the book addresses epistemologies, artistic and literary representations, the turn towards quantification and measurement, and the connections to imperialism and colonialism. It explores the complex debate about the meaning of fat and its signalling of health, beauty, moral strength, and class status. The book shows how contemporary presentations and discussions of fat offer insights into ideals of gender and race and the processes of imperialism and of professionalization in the social sciences and medicine. By tracing how debates shifted over time, the book ultimately reveals that there was no universal interpretation of fat as a positive or negative characteristic throughout the nineteenth century.

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9781487553395

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Reviews

""Reminding us that fat is a concept 'in flux, ' the authors vividly demonstrate the diversity and complexity of the meanings assigned to fat and the body during the long nineteenth century. A wide variety of theoretical, methodological, and thematic approaches in this collection significantly enrich our understanding of how discourses and practices about fatness have been constructed within specific historical contexts.""--Yeomi Choi, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Lethbridge ""Ten essays of remarkable breadth reassess fat and weight in the long nineteenth century English-speaking world. This unique collection balances historical scholarship with interdisciplinary methodologies and theories. Through compelling and provocative scholarship, it offers readers fresh insight into the relationship of fat and body size with statistics, medical science, and imperialism.""--Jane Nicholas, Professor of History, St. Jerome's University in the University of Waterloo

Author Information

Amy J. Shaw is an associate professor in the Department of History and Religion at the University of Lethbridge. V. Lynn Kennedy is an associate professor in the Department of History and Religion at the University of Lethbridge.

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