This Mortal Coil: The Human Body in History and Culture

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Fay Bound Alberti (Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Queen Mary University of London)

This Mortal Coil

The Human Body in History and Culture

Fay Bound Alberti (Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Queen Mary University of London)

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English

Oxford University Press
07 July 2016

History: earliest times to present day; Social & cultural history; Society & culture: general; History of medicine; Mathematics & Sciences

To many people the idea that 'the body' has its own history might sound faintly ridiculous. The body and its experiences are usually seen as something that we share with people from the past. Like 'human nature', it represents the unchanging in a changing world. Bodies just are...

But the body does have a history. The way that it moves, feels, breathes, and engages with the world has been viewed very differently across times and cultures. For centuries, 'we' were believed to be composed of souls that were part of the body and inseparable from it. Now we exist in our heads, and our bodies have become the vessels for that uncertain and elusive thing we call our 'true selves'. The way we understand the material structure of the body has also changed radically over the centuries. From the bones to the skin, from the senses to the organs of sexual reproduction, every part of the body has an ever-changing history, dependent on time, culture, and place. This Mortal Coil is an exploration of that history.

Peeling away our assumptions about the unchanging nature of the human body, Fay Bound Alberti takes it apart in order to put it back anew, telling the cultural history of our key organs and systems from the inside out, from blood to guts, brains to sex organs. The understanding of the 'modern body' she reveals in the process is far removed from the 'eternal' or timeless object of common assumption. In fact, she argues, its roots go back no further than the sixteenth century at the earliest - and it has only truly existed in its current form since the nineteenth century.

By: Fay Bound Alberti (Honorary Senior Research Fellow Honorary Senior Research Fellow Queen Mary University of London)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 168mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9780199599035
ISBN 10: 0199599033
Publication Date: 07 July 2016
Audience: College/higher education , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction: The Body in Parts 1: Getting it Straight: Spines, Scoliosis and the Hunchback King 2: Beauty and the Breast: from Paraffin to PIP 3: 'Country Matters': The Language and Politics of Female Genitalia 4: 'Soft and Tender' or 'Weighed down by Grief:' The Emotional Heart 5: Mind the Brain: From 'Cold Wet Matter' to the Origin of Thought 6: From Excrement to Boundary: Rethinking Skin 7: Tongue-Tied? From Nagging Wives to a Question of Taste 8: Fat. So? Gut Knowledge and the Meanings of Obesity Conclusion: Towards Embodiment Further Reading Notes Index

Reviews for This Mortal Coil: The Human Body in History and Culture

Bound Alberti is well known for her insightful analyses of the body... this book is a good place to start thinking anew about reinvigorating debates deconstructing mindbody dualism. * Medical History * Fay Bound Alberti proves again that she is an exquisite storyteller and compelling historian. This Mortal Coil is an enthralling history of our bodies. * Joanna Bourke, author of The Story of Pain. * Alberti has provided a compelling history, which explores the relationship between the biological body, with its bones, skin, guts and genitals, and the language and metaphors we use to describe it, without reducing one to the other. Written accessibly, and in beautiful prose, this book will appeal to historians, social scientists, medical professionals and the general reader alike. Highly recommended. * Hazel Croft, BMJ Blogs * Moving and thought-provoking [This Mortal Coil shows] how understanding our bodies is integral to understanding ourselves. * Wendy Moore, New Statesman * Slight in weight ..., but not in intellectual breadth. Alberti gives us a new history of the body, primarily the female one. Crucially, she answers the 'so what' question, powerfully demonstrating why the history of the body matters. * Joanna Bourke, Books of the Year 2016, BBC History Magazine * Engrossing and provocative... leaves readers eager for more. * Erin Sullivan, The Lancet * This book is a good place to start thinking anew about reinvigorating debates deconstructing mindbody dualism. * Joanna Bourke, Journal of Medical History *