Plain Ugly: The Unattractive Body in Early Modern Culture

by Naomi Baker

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Book cover for Plain Ugly

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Plain ugly examines depictions of physically repellent characters in a striking range of early modern literary and visual texts, offering fascinating insights into the ways in which ugliness and deformity were perceived and represented, particularly with regard to gender and the construction of identity.

The book focuses closely on English literary culture but also engages with wider European perspectives, drawing on a wide array of primary sources including Italian and other European visual art. Offering illuminating close readings of texts from both high and low culture, it will interest scholars in English literature, cultural studies, women's studies, history and art history, as well as postgraduate and undergraduate students in these disciplines.

As an accessible and absorbing account of the power dynamics informing depictions of ugliness (and beauty) in relation to some of the quirkiest literary and visual material to be found in early modern culture, it will also appeal to a wider audience.

  • ISBN10 152612968X
  • ISBN13 9781526129680
  • Publish Date 30 April 2018 (first published 1 September 2010)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Manchester University Press
  • Imprint Manchester University Press Melland Schill Studies
  • Format eBook
  • Pages 272
  • Language English