Description
Book SynopsisWhat is the fascination that decollation holds for us, as individuals and as a culture? Why does the idea make us laugh and the act make us close our eyes? "Losing Our Heads" explores in both artistic and cultural contexts the role of the chopped-off head.
Trade Review"To read
Losing Our Heads is to experience that same frisson Regina Janes ascribes to the guillotinea powerful and seductive and (excuse me) heady combination of gossip and scholarship." -- Kathryn Davis,author of Versailles
"Why are beheadings so captivating in society and literature? Losing Our Heads: Beheadings In Literature And Culture tackles a gruesome topic, providing a healthy dose of anthropological, medical, social and literary insight to accounts of beheadings from antiquity to modern times." * Bookwatch *
Table of ContentsPrefacePrologue: Head Matters 1 Introduction to a Beheading 2 Bouncing Heads and Scaffold Dramas 3 Power to the People: His Pike and Her Guillotine 4 At the Sign of the Baptist's Head 5 African Heads and Imperial Decolletage: Beheadings in the Colonies 6 Epilogue: Craniate Origins and Headless Futures Notes Index About the Author
