Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

The Body in Parts Chapter -- Getting it Straight: Spines, Scoliosis and the Hunchback King Chapter -- Beauty and the Breast: from Paraffin to PIP Chapter -- 'Country Matters': The Language and Politics of Female Genitalia Chapter -- 'Soft and Tender' or 'Weighed down by Grief:' The Emotional Heart Chapter -- Mind the Brain: From 'Cold Wet Matter' to the Origin of Thought Chapter -- From Excrement to Boundary: Rethinking Skin Chapter -- Tongue-Tied? From Nagging Wives to a Question of Taste Chapter -- Fat. So? Gut Knowledge and the Meanings of Obesity Conclusion: Towards Embodiment Further Reading.

"Hamlet's "mortal coil"--Which eventually and inevitably we "shuffle off" when we enter the sleep of death, as he puts it - has never been static. Indeed how the human body and its component parts have been understood, individually and collectively, has shifted across time, shaped by culture, religion, and technology. In this probing and provocative new book, Fay Bound Alberti uses the global histories of medicine, pathology, and emotions to explore these changing notions. Each chapter uses a different focus - bones, skin, sexual organs, spine, tongue, heart - revealing how each body part connects to a peculiarly Western notion of expertise, one which appropriates one element from the others and ignores their interconnection. The themes examined in This Mortal Coil - the nature of identity, the relationship between the brain and the heart, and the gendering of our physical and emotional selves - are enduring ones, but perceptions of the "perfect body" or "perfect health" evolve constantly. Moving between the surface and what lies beneath, Alberti provides a rich and fascinating accounting of each part, shedding light on the role scientific developments - from medical care to plastic surgery to cloning - plays in how we look at ourselves. Written with insight and narrative verve, Alberti's provocative book reveals how the mortal coil can be unwound, and looked at as if for the first time"--Provided by publisher.

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