Freaks: Myths and Images of the Secret Self (Hardback)
by Leslie Fiedler
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ISBN Number: 0671225057
Format:
Hardback
Number of Pages:
367
Publication Date:
1978 - first edition
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster

From two headed men to seven breasted women, from giants and dwarfs to Siamese twins, the phenomenon of the freak has fascinated man for centuries. In this, the classic study of the very nature of that fascination, Fiedler offers an in depth examination of man's views of the freak from classical times to the present.

Holy figure or showpiece, object of scorn or pity, symbol of human alienation or of the future possibilities of man, all are images with which the freak has been associated throughout history. In identifying them, Fiedler reveals the semi-religious awe, uneasiness, terror and sympathy that have defined our reactions to the freak in both life and art. Drawing from history, sociology, anthropology, Freudian psychology, biology, literature and popular culture, he presents a masterpiece of interdisciplinary scholarship that shows above all how we perceive the freak as the "other", the dark and unnatural mirror of ourselves.

Condition: Near mint book inside very good dustjacket.
 

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