Description
Book SynopsisExtraordinary Bodies is a cornerstone text of disability studies, establishing the field upon its publication in 1997. Framing disability as a minority discourse rather than a medical one, the book added depth to oppressive narratives and revealed novel, liberatory ones.
Trade ReviewExtraordinary Bodies addresses a subject of great significance and topicality with originality and sophistication; it is, or should become, a seminal work in the emerging field of disability studies. -- G. Thomas Couser MELUS [Thomson] digs deep and offers profound insights into the interrelationships among the theories, practices, and dominant ideologies of a particular historical period as they have had an impact on the position of disabled people. -- Simi Linton SIGNS: JOURNAL OF WOMEN IN CULTURE & SOCIETY Fascinating and theoretically rich... Extraordinary Bodies will... be viewed as one of [disability studies'] foundational texts. -- Anthony Hutchison Journal of American Studies With this important work, Thomson not only redefines disability studies, but also makes a contribution to feminist, poststructuralist, and race theory and provides fresh rereadings of both canonical and non-canonical literary texts. -- Joyce Huff COLLEGE LITERATURE [A]n adventurous, sensible, passionate book that invites readers to rethink the ground-breaking work of theorists who have shaped academic discourse on marginality and the female body. -- Catherine J. Kudlick Journal of Social History
Table of ContentsPreface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition Preface and Acknowledgments I. Politicizing Bodily Differences 1. Disability, Identity, and Representation: An Introduction 2. Theorizing Disability II. Constructing Disabled Figures: Cultural and Literary Sites 3. The Cultural Work of American Freak Shows, 1835-1940 4. Benevolent Maternalism and the Disabled Women in Stowe, Davis, and Phelps 5. Disabled Women as Powerful Women in Petry, Morrison, and Lorde Conclusion: From Pathology to Identity Notes Bibliography Index
