Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature
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Overview
Inaugurates a new field of disability studies by framing disability as a minority discourse rather than a medical one, revising oppressive narratives and revealing liberatory ones. The book examines disabled figures in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and Rebecca Harding Davis's Life in the Iron Mills, in African-American novels by Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde, and in the popular cultural ritual of the freak show.
Columbia University Press
A 1997Choice Outstanding Book of the Year
Synopsis
Inaugurates a new field of disability studies by framing disability as a minority discourse rather than a medical one. The book examines disabled figures in Uncle Tom's Cabin and in African-American novels by Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde as well as in the popular cultural ritual of the freak show.
Sander L. Gilman
Provides complex answers to the puzzle of American images of disabilities from the nineteenth century to the present. This is a solid, useful book which all readers interested in the relationship between society and culture must read.
Editorials
From the Publisher
A well-written and provocative beginning to a conversation about disability that is long overdue among scholars in literary and cultural studies.
Columbia University Press