Necrolife : toward an ontology of the corpse in nineteenth century American culture
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- My purpose was to re-define the concept of the corpse in Western culture through the application of approaches to biological organization patterns particular to the natural sciences that can provide a path to re-describe the relation of self to corpse. This led me to rethink meaning of the terms "life" and life-cycle. I found forms and views of life that transcended ontological categories separating subjects and objects as well as decentering the role of the human in relation to other forms and. I chose nineteenth-century America because I identified a radically different approach to interconnection of life and death in comparison to present times. I argued that the configuration of dying has only altered in the United States within the past 150 years as opposed to other Western countries in which medicalization had been under way since the 18th century. By understanding past conceptualizations of dying, we can better examine current cultural narratives that approach this sensitive and enduring issue, one at the basis of all human experience. The project examined concrete case studies such as: the emergence of the death-care industry in nineteenth-century America; body preservation technology; the management of dying and death through popular discourses and literary genres, both fictional and non-fictional; and the rhetoric of a brand of nationalism grounded on the sacrifice of Civil War soldiers and other major casualties associated with the war.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Fernandez, Ingrid |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Program in Modern Thought and Literature. |
| Primary advisor | Gumbrecht, Hans Ulrich |
| Primary advisor | Heise, Ursula K |
| Thesis advisor | Gumbrecht, Hans Ulrich |
| Thesis advisor | Heise, Ursula K |
| Thesis advisor | Lunsford, Andrea A, 1942- |
| Advisor | Lunsford, Andrea A, 1942- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Ingrid Fernandez. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Program in Modern Thought and Literature. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Ingrid Fernandez
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).
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