CiNii Books - Fracture : adventures of a broken body

The starting point of Ann Oakley's fascinating book is the fracture of her right arm in the grounds of a hotel in the USA. What begins as an accident becomes a journey into some critical themes of modern Western culture: the crisis of embodiment and the perfect self; the confusion between body and identity; the commodification of bodies and body parts; the intrusive surveillance and profiteering of medicine and the law; the problem of ageing; and the identification of women, particularly, with bodies - from the intensely ambiguous two-in-one state of pregnancy to women's later transformation into unproductive, brittle skeletons. "Fracture" mixes personal experience (the author's and other people's) with 'facts' derived from other literatures, including the history of medicine, neurology, the sociology of health and illness, philosophy, and legal discourses on the right to life and people as victims of a greedy litigation system. The book's genre spans fiction/non-fiction, autobiography and social theory.

Table of Contents

Preface
An accident at White Creek Lodge
Our bodies, ourselves
Nervous disorder
Right hands
The daily drama of the body
Living corpses
Old bones
Two in one
The law of uncivil actions
Accidental bodies.

Volume: : hbk ISBN 9781861349385

Description

The starting point of Ann Oakley's fascinating new book is the fracture of her right arm in the grounds of a hotel in the USA. What begins as an accident becomes a journey into some critical themes of modern Western culture: the crisis of embodiment and the perfect self; the confusion between body and identity; the commodification of bodies and body parts; the intrusive surveillance and profiteering of medicine and the law; the problem of ageing; and the identification of women, particularly, with bodies - from the intensely ambiguous two-in-one state of pregnancy to women's later transformation into unproductive, brittle skeletons. "Fracture" mixes personal experience (the author's and other people's) with 'facts' derived from other literatures, including the history of medicine, neurology, the sociology of health and illness, philosophy, and legal discourses on the right to life and people as victims of a greedy litigation system. The book's genre spans fiction/non-fiction, autobiography and social theory.

Table of Contents

Preface
An accident at White Creek Lodge
Our bodies, ourselves
Nervous disorder
Right hands
The daily drama of the body
Living corpses
Old bones
Two in one
The law of uncivil actions
Accidental bodies.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Fracture : adventures of a broken body

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Available at 3 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Description and Table of Contents

Details

Export