Candi K. Cann
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813145419
- eISBN:
- 9780813145495
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813145419.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
From the dead body to the virtual body and from material memorials to virtual memorials, one thing is clear: the bodiless nature of memorialization of the dead across cultures. In postindustrial, ...
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From the dead body to the virtual body and from material memorials to virtual memorials, one thing is clear: the bodiless nature of memorialization of the dead across cultures. In postindustrial, Protestant, and capitalist societies such as the United States, this trend seems much more prominent and is moving at a faster rate than in the developing world. As globalization and industrialization increase, traditional cultural values and norms will be further eroded, and the trend toward bodiless memorialization will only intensify. Additionally, as the world's population and accompanying land scarcity issues continue to rise, the body as corpse will continue to disappear as countries look for new and innovative ways to dispose of the dead. Ultimately, the rise of memorialization is concurrent with the disappearance of the body. This book examines this disturbing trend, analyzing various types of memorialization and questioning the impetus behind these newly emerging forms of remembrance.Less
From the dead body to the virtual body and from material memorials to virtual memorials, one thing is clear: the bodiless nature of memorialization of the dead across cultures. In postindustrial, Protestant, and capitalist societies such as the United States, this trend seems much more prominent and is moving at a faster rate than in the developing world. As globalization and industrialization increase, traditional cultural values and norms will be further eroded, and the trend toward bodiless memorialization will only intensify. Additionally, as the world's population and accompanying land scarcity issues continue to rise, the body as corpse will continue to disappear as countries look for new and innovative ways to dispose of the dead. Ultimately, the rise of memorialization is concurrent with the disappearance of the body. This book examines this disturbing trend, analyzing various types of memorialization and questioning the impetus behind these newly emerging forms of remembrance.
Andrew Smith
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719088414
- eISBN:
- 9781526115256
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719088414.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The focus in this book is on how the dead and dying were represented in Gothic texts between 1740 and 1914-between Graveyard poetry and the mass death occasioned by the First World War. The corpse ...
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The focus in this book is on how the dead and dying were represented in Gothic texts between 1740 and 1914-between Graveyard poetry and the mass death occasioned by the First World War. The corpse might seem to have an obvious place in the Gothic imaginary but, as we shall see, the corpse so often refuses to function as a formal Gothic prop and in order to understand why this occurs we need to explore what the corpse figuratively represented in the Gothic during the long nineteenth century. Representations of death often provide a vehicle for other contemplations than just death. A central aim of this study is to explore how images of death and dying were closely linked to models of creativity, which argues for a new way of looking at aesthetics during the period. Writers explored include Edward Young, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, James Boaden, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Brontë, George Eliot, Henry Rider Haggard, Bram Stoker and Arthur Machen.Less
The focus in this book is on how the dead and dying were represented in Gothic texts between 1740 and 1914-between Graveyard poetry and the mass death occasioned by the First World War. The corpse might seem to have an obvious place in the Gothic imaginary but, as we shall see, the corpse so often refuses to function as a formal Gothic prop and in order to understand why this occurs we need to explore what the corpse figuratively represented in the Gothic during the long nineteenth century. Representations of death often provide a vehicle for other contemplations than just death. A central aim of this study is to explore how images of death and dying were closely linked to models of creativity, which argues for a new way of looking at aesthetics during the period. Writers explored include Edward Young, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, James Boaden, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Brontë, George Eliot, Henry Rider Haggard, Bram Stoker and Arthur Machen.
Margaret Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694334
- eISBN:
- 9781452953588
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694334.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
An Iconography of the Flesh theorizes the relationship between the body and the image by looking at the corpse as a special instance of a body that is both thing and representation. Unlike ...
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An Iconography of the Flesh theorizes the relationship between the body and the image by looking at the corpse as a special instance of a body that is both thing and representation. Unlike sociological or anthropological studies of death and funerary practice, this work takes as its starting point the special role of the photograph in modern mourning practices, particularly those surrounding public figures. Arguing that the evolving cultural understanding of photographic realism structures our relationship to the corpse, the book outlines a new politics of representation in which some bodies are more visible (and vulnerable) in death than others. An Iconography of the Flesh ultimately argues that death without a body is specific to the capitalist mode of social reproduction and its attendant alienation of meaningful representations of death in favor of ghostly figures of bare life that reflect the exploitation of those whose bodies are considered expendable.Less
An Iconography of the Flesh theorizes the relationship between the body and the image by looking at the corpse as a special instance of a body that is both thing and representation. Unlike sociological or anthropological studies of death and funerary practice, this work takes as its starting point the special role of the photograph in modern mourning practices, particularly those surrounding public figures. Arguing that the evolving cultural understanding of photographic realism structures our relationship to the corpse, the book outlines a new politics of representation in which some bodies are more visible (and vulnerable) in death than others. An Iconography of the Flesh ultimately argues that death without a body is specific to the capitalist mode of social reproduction and its attendant alienation of meaningful representations of death in favor of ghostly figures of bare life that reflect the exploitation of those whose bodies are considered expendable.
Rousseau Nicky
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719096020
- eISBN:
- 9781781707876
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096020.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
As resistance intensified in what would turn out to be apartheid's final decade, security forces in South Africa began covertly to execute opponents extra-judicially. A noteworthy aspect of these ...
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As resistance intensified in what would turn out to be apartheid's final decade, security forces in South Africa began covertly to execute opponents extra-judicially. A noteworthy aspect of these executions is that the modes of killing and disposing of corpses varied, sometimes along regional lines or according to the particular unit involved. The evidence of death and disposal within apartheid counter-insurgency warfare raises a number of issues concerning the reasons for a lack of a cohesive strategy regarding the disposal of dead bodies. It will be investigated how this helps us to understand the structures of violence within the apartheid state and the use of the corpse itself as a weapon of counter-insurgency.Less
As resistance intensified in what would turn out to be apartheid's final decade, security forces in South Africa began covertly to execute opponents extra-judicially. A noteworthy aspect of these executions is that the modes of killing and disposing of corpses varied, sometimes along regional lines or according to the particular unit involved. The evidence of death and disposal within apartheid counter-insurgency warfare raises a number of issues concerning the reasons for a lack of a cohesive strategy regarding the disposal of dead bodies. It will be investigated how this helps us to understand the structures of violence within the apartheid state and the use of the corpse itself as a weapon of counter-insurgency.
Neil Cornwell
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719082092
- eISBN:
- 9781781702062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719082092.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter examines the motif of round-the-world flight, and the impact on surrounding society of the quirks of a single life, in Odoevsky's tale The Live Corpse. It is seen to be developed into ...
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This chapter examines the motif of round-the-world flight, and the impact on surrounding society of the quirks of a single life, in Odoevsky's tale The Live Corpse. It is seen to be developed into what purports to be interplanetary flight. The chapter also examines the rise and fall of a civilisation, in Dostoevsky's late story The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. Particulars of such supposed cosmic travel may have been, in part at least, ‘borrowed’ by his successors from Dostoevsky. However this may be, such things are seen to be taken very much further, in twentieth-century English horror and science fiction writing, in key works by William Hope Hodgson and Olaf Stapledon.Less
This chapter examines the motif of round-the-world flight, and the impact on surrounding society of the quirks of a single life, in Odoevsky's tale The Live Corpse. It is seen to be developed into what purports to be interplanetary flight. The chapter also examines the rise and fall of a civilisation, in Dostoevsky's late story The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. Particulars of such supposed cosmic travel may have been, in part at least, ‘borrowed’ by his successors from Dostoevsky. However this may be, such things are seen to be taken very much further, in twentieth-century English horror and science fiction writing, in key works by William Hope Hodgson and Olaf Stapledon.
Frank Noack
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813167008
- eISBN:
- 9780813167794
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813167008.003.0012
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter deals with the debut of Swedish actress Kristina Söderbaum in Nazi cinema and her impact on Harlan’s life. After choosing her to play the female lead in Jugend (Youth, 1938), the ...
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This chapter deals with the debut of Swedish actress Kristina Söderbaum in Nazi cinema and her impact on Harlan’s life. After choosing her to play the female lead in Jugend (Youth, 1938), the adaptation of the play that had provided him with his breakthrough in the theater, he not only falls in love with and marries her but also chooses her to be the dominant presence in his future films. In the play, the character Söderbaum plays is shot, but in the film she drowns herself, earning her the nickname “Reich’s Water Corpse.” In Jugend and in its follow-up Verwehte Spuren (Lost traces, 1938), Harlan directs her in a sadistic and often voyeuristic manner. Thematically, both films are more personal than Harlan’s previous ones. They deal with the early loss of parents, inherited sin, incest, religious dogma, and distrust in a relationship. Both are costume films set in the previous century and, despite their apolitical nature, are admired by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.Less
This chapter deals with the debut of Swedish actress Kristina Söderbaum in Nazi cinema and her impact on Harlan’s life. After choosing her to play the female lead in Jugend (Youth, 1938), the adaptation of the play that had provided him with his breakthrough in the theater, he not only falls in love with and marries her but also chooses her to be the dominant presence in his future films. In the play, the character Söderbaum plays is shot, but in the film she drowns herself, earning her the nickname “Reich’s Water Corpse.” In Jugend and in its follow-up Verwehte Spuren (Lost traces, 1938), Harlan directs her in a sadistic and often voyeuristic manner. Thematically, both films are more personal than Harlan’s previous ones. They deal with the early loss of parents, inherited sin, incest, religious dogma, and distrust in a relationship. Both are costume films set in the previous century and, despite their apolitical nature, are admired by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.
Jonathan Strauss
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251322
- eISBN:
- 9780823252954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251322.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Mythology and Folklore
The valuable living individual did not exist in clear conceptual terms within the historical context in which Antigone was written, but he nonetheless made his possibility felt as an absence. This ...
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The valuable living individual did not exist in clear conceptual terms within the historical context in which Antigone was written, but he nonetheless made his possibility felt as an absence. This absence revealed itself as an object of desire and as the sign of a loss. Chapter Three focuses on this sign of loss and sees in the corpse an important figure for conceptualizing a missing individual. Polyneices's dead body, which plays a central role in Antigone, is thus read as an instrument for understanding and appreciating the specificities and contingencies of individual life. This is an inherently frustrating undertaking, however, since the corpse is defined by the lack of life. The chapter concentrates on Hegel's readings of burial rites in Antigone, since he offers the richest and most far-reaching conceptualizations of death in the play.Less
The valuable living individual did not exist in clear conceptual terms within the historical context in which Antigone was written, but he nonetheless made his possibility felt as an absence. This absence revealed itself as an object of desire and as the sign of a loss. Chapter Three focuses on this sign of loss and sees in the corpse an important figure for conceptualizing a missing individual. Polyneices's dead body, which plays a central role in Antigone, is thus read as an instrument for understanding and appreciating the specificities and contingencies of individual life. This is an inherently frustrating undertaking, however, since the corpse is defined by the lack of life. The chapter concentrates on Hegel's readings of burial rites in Antigone, since he offers the richest and most far-reaching conceptualizations of death in the play.
Jonathan Strauss
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251322
- eISBN:
- 9780823252954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251322.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Mythology and Folklore
As the previous chapter showed, the dead body represented both the value of the individual and an indeterminate state between life and death. Chapter Four argues that, as such, the corpse was ...
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As the previous chapter showed, the dead body represented both the value of the individual and an indeterminate state between life and death. Chapter Four argues that, as such, the corpse was excluded from the city and echoed other categories that did not fit comfortably into the conceptual structures of the state: namely the criminal, the ostracized, and the abject. The paradox of these elements is that although they must be excluded from the polis they are also necessary to its identity and cannot therefore be eradicated from it. In this respect, the corpse represents an aporia at the hear of the city and a reminder of its mysterious origins. Through her allegiance to the body of her dead brother, Antigone thus grapples with the original paradox of the state while indicating the possibility for a different but still gendered notion of the political – one based on feminine love. The readings in this chapter draw on several texts by Plato, including Alcibiades I, Parmenides, Crito, and the Laws.Less
As the previous chapter showed, the dead body represented both the value of the individual and an indeterminate state between life and death. Chapter Four argues that, as such, the corpse was excluded from the city and echoed other categories that did not fit comfortably into the conceptual structures of the state: namely the criminal, the ostracized, and the abject. The paradox of these elements is that although they must be excluded from the polis they are also necessary to its identity and cannot therefore be eradicated from it. In this respect, the corpse represents an aporia at the hear of the city and a reminder of its mysterious origins. Through her allegiance to the body of her dead brother, Antigone thus grapples with the original paradox of the state while indicating the possibility for a different but still gendered notion of the political – one based on feminine love. The readings in this chapter draw on several texts by Plato, including Alcibiades I, Parmenides, Crito, and the Laws.
Iain Robert Smith
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474407236
- eISBN:
- 9781474434812
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474407236.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Since the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula in 1897, the character of Count Dracula has proven to be eminently adaptable, appearing in various guises in over 300 feature films – from FW ...
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Since the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula in 1897, the character of Count Dracula has proven to be eminently adaptable, appearing in various guises in over 300 feature films – from FW Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) through to Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D (2012). As with other iconic characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Batman, Dracula has been freed from his roots in a source text and entered what Will Brooker describes as ‘the realm of the icon’. Yet, while there has been a considerable amount of scholarship on the canonical adaptations of Dracula produced in Hollywood, the UK and Germany, very little has been written on the numerous adaptations of the Count Dracula character that have appeared in other film industries. This chapter considers examples of transnational film remakes, including the 1953 Turkish film Drakula İstanbul'da (Dracula in Istanbul), the 1957 Mexican film El Vampiro (The Vampire), and the 1967 Pakistani film Zinda Laash (The Living Corpse). Paying close attention to the variety of ways in which the character is utilised across different cultural contexts, this chapter interrogates the complex issues that this raises in relation to the dynamic interplay of global and local within international popular cinema.Less
Since the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula in 1897, the character of Count Dracula has proven to be eminently adaptable, appearing in various guises in over 300 feature films – from FW Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) through to Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D (2012). As with other iconic characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Batman, Dracula has been freed from his roots in a source text and entered what Will Brooker describes as ‘the realm of the icon’. Yet, while there has been a considerable amount of scholarship on the canonical adaptations of Dracula produced in Hollywood, the UK and Germany, very little has been written on the numerous adaptations of the Count Dracula character that have appeared in other film industries. This chapter considers examples of transnational film remakes, including the 1953 Turkish film Drakula İstanbul'da (Dracula in Istanbul), the 1957 Mexican film El Vampiro (The Vampire), and the 1967 Pakistani film Zinda Laash (The Living Corpse). Paying close attention to the variety of ways in which the character is utilised across different cultural contexts, this chapter interrogates the complex issues that this raises in relation to the dynamic interplay of global and local within international popular cinema.
Margaret Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694334
- eISBN:
- 9781452953588
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694334.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
Chapter 1 introduces photographic indexicality and uses it as the metric to understanding the relationship between the body of the dead leader (Lincoln, Lenin, Eva Peron) and the “body politic” for ...
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Chapter 1 introduces photographic indexicality and uses it as the metric to understanding the relationship between the body of the dead leader (Lincoln, Lenin, Eva Peron) and the “body politic” for which it stands.Less
Chapter 1 introduces photographic indexicality and uses it as the metric to understanding the relationship between the body of the dead leader (Lincoln, Lenin, Eva Peron) and the “body politic” for which it stands.
Margaret Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694334
- eISBN:
- 9781452953588
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694334.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
The conclusion argues for an understanding of death that allows the body to speak and signify in ways that restore dignity to the mourning process and extricate it from capitalist modes of social ...
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The conclusion argues for an understanding of death that allows the body to speak and signify in ways that restore dignity to the mourning process and extricate it from capitalist modes of social reproduction.Less
The conclusion argues for an understanding of death that allows the body to speak and signify in ways that restore dignity to the mourning process and extricate it from capitalist modes of social reproduction.
Margaret Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694334
- eISBN:
- 9781452953588
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694334.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
In the introduction, Swartz introduces the corpse as representational object referring to deceased, and documents the relationship between photography and embalming as aesthetics as well as mourning ...
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In the introduction, Swartz introduces the corpse as representational object referring to deceased, and documents the relationship between photography and embalming as aesthetics as well as mourning practices. Schwartz defines the terms corpse and iconography. She gives descriptions of the historical figures that the chapters are about, such as Emmett Till, Abraham Lincoln, Eva Peron, Lenin, Michael Jackson, and Hamza al-Khateeb. The remainder of the introduction is dedicated to the history of mortuary rituals, particularly embalming and how they are relevant today.Less
In the introduction, Swartz introduces the corpse as representational object referring to deceased, and documents the relationship between photography and embalming as aesthetics as well as mourning practices. Schwartz defines the terms corpse and iconography. She gives descriptions of the historical figures that the chapters are about, such as Emmett Till, Abraham Lincoln, Eva Peron, Lenin, Michael Jackson, and Hamza al-Khateeb. The remainder of the introduction is dedicated to the history of mortuary rituals, particularly embalming and how they are relevant today.
