The Victorian Celebration of Death

Author:   James Stevens Curl
Publisher:   The History Press Ltd
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9780750923187


Pages:   352
Publication Date:   23 November 2000
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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The Victorian Celebration of Death


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Overview

The Victorian period was one of remarkable urban development, industrial expansion, and population growth, with all the attendant problems. The mortality rate was high, with epidemics, poor hygiene and a lack of clean water largely to blame. Disposal of the dead was therefore a problem. This little known side of reform in Victorian Britain is documented here as a vast achievment in the civilizing of urban man. The author takes into account religious, social, architectural, monumental, and landscaping facets. Along the way, he describes some major Victorian funerals (notably that of the Duke of Wellington) and ends with the Queen's own funeral in 1901, an awe-inspiring occasion in which representatives of many nations and peoples took part.

Full Product Details

Author:   James Stevens Curl
Publisher:   The History Press Ltd
Imprint:   Sutton Publishing Ltd
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 17.20cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 24.40cm
Weight:   0.903kg
ISBN:  

9780750923187


ISBN 10:   0750923180
Pages:   352
Publication Date:   23 November 2000
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

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Professor Curl is an established and prolific authority on the architecture of death. He first published The Victorian Celebration of Death in 1972. This edition offers a fresh perpective and is the culmination of some 30 years of study. Condemning the narrow focus of previous historians on the ostentatious displays and excessive funerals of the Victorians, he argues that these rituals actually provided genuine, therapeutic benefits for the mourners. They were able to look at death 'with gusto, steadfastness and imagination' and understood, much better than we do, the profound role played by visual symbols of remembrance. The roots of Victorian attitudes to death lie deep in the Romantic Movement and the Evangelical revival. The key to understanding them is to be found in the nature of their burial grounds and their architecture. The vaults, tombstones, statues and inscriptions are testaments to their family ties, aspirations and standing. We miss much on our travels, both at home and abroad, if we avoid visiting famous cemeteries such as Highgate, the Glasgow Necropolis, Pere-Lachaise and others. Curl suggests that our mania for keeping cemeteries tidy and removing ancient gravestones is symptomatic of a deep malaise. 'Death was never a tidy thing: it is foolish to try and make it so, and to compartment it away from life and the living.' His fierce indictment of contemporary death rituals extends to likening the committal in cremation to 'a thanatological version of coitus interruptus'. Packed full with fascinating insights - Rousseau preceded Princess Diana in being buried on a small island in the middle of a lake - it's well illustrated throughout with photographs and diagrams, as well as goose-flesh provoking quotations from a host of poets from Seneca to Shakespeare. (Kirkus UK)


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