Exploring the Cultural History of Continental European Freak Shows and 'Enfreakment'

Print version record.

Table of contents; introduction; leprous bodies and abject charity; missionaries, monsters, and the demon show; frontier girl goes feral in eighteenth century france; the diderot freak show; spectacular medical freakery; monstrous bodies in rudolf virchow's medical collection in nineteenth century germany; enfreakment and german medical collections; normalizing bodily difference in autobiographical narratives of the central european armless wonders carl hermann unthan and františek filip; "tiny artists from the big world"; from showbiz to the concentration camp; the freaks of chernobyl.

On grace and disabilitylonging for endor; contributors; index.

This collection offers cultural historical analyses of enfreakment and freak shows, examining the social construction and spectacular display of wondrous, monstrous, or curious Otherness in the formerly relatively neglected region of Continental Europe. Forgotten stories are uncovered about freak-show celebrities, medical specimen, and philosophical fantasies presenting the anatomically unusual in a wide range of sites, including curiosity cabinets, anatomical museums, and traveling circus ac ...

Includes bibliographical references and index.

English.

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