Description

This book examines those who wore glasses through history, art and literature, from the green emerald through which Emperor Nero watched gladiator fights to Benjamin Franklin’s homemade bifocals, and from Marilyn Monroe’s cat-eye glasses to Emma Bovary and Harry Potter. Spectacles are objects that seem commonplace, but this book shows that because they fundamentally changed people’s lives, glasses were the wellspring of a quiet social, cultural and economic revolution. Indeed, one can argue that modernity itself began with the paradigm shift that transformed poor eyesight from a severely limiting disease, treated with pomades and tinctures, into a minor impairment that can be remedied with mechanisms constructed from lenses and wire.

In the Blink of an Eye: A Cultural History of Spectacles

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£16.95

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Hardback by Stefana Sabin

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Short Description:

This book examines those who wore glasses through history, art and literature, from the green emerald through which Emperor Nero... Read more

    Publisher: Reaktion Books
    Publication Date: 12/07/2021
    ISBN13: 9781789144635, 978-1789144635
    ISBN10: 1789144639

    Number of Pages: 112

    Non Fiction , History

    Description

    This book examines those who wore glasses through history, art and literature, from the green emerald through which Emperor Nero watched gladiator fights to Benjamin Franklin’s homemade bifocals, and from Marilyn Monroe’s cat-eye glasses to Emma Bovary and Harry Potter. Spectacles are objects that seem commonplace, but this book shows that because they fundamentally changed people’s lives, glasses were the wellspring of a quiet social, cultural and economic revolution. Indeed, one can argue that modernity itself began with the paradigm shift that transformed poor eyesight from a severely limiting disease, treated with pomades and tinctures, into a minor impairment that can be remedied with mechanisms constructed from lenses and wire.

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