| Description |
1 online resource (1 PDF file (x pages)). |
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text txt rdacontent |
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computer c rdamedia |
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online resource cr rdacarrier |
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text file PDF rda |
| Series |
Edinburgh critical studies in modernist culture |
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Edinburgh critical studies in modernist culture.
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| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
Few modern materials have been as central to histories of environmental toxicity, medical ignorance, and legal liability as asbestos. A naturally occurring mineral fibre once hailed for its ability to guard against fire, asbestos is now best known for the horrific illnesses it causes. This book offers a new take on the established history of asbestos from a literary critical perspective, showing how literature and film during and after modernism responded first to the material's proliferation through the built environment, and then to its catastrophic effects on human health. Starting from the surprising encounters writers have had with asbestos--Franz Kafka's part ownership of an asbestos factory, Primo Levi's work in an asbestos mine, and James Kelman's early life as an asbestos factory worker--the book looks to literature to rethink received truths in historical, legal and medical scholarship. In doing so, it models an interdisciplinary approach for tracking material intersections between modernism and the environmental and health humanities. Asbestos - The Last Modernist Object offers readers a compelling new method for using cultural objects when thinking about how to live with the legacies of toxic materials. Presents the first extended account of asbestos in literature, film and visual culture - Considers the literary and cultural impact of asbestos over the long 20th Century - Tracks material intersections between Modernism and the Environmental and Health Humanities - Models a new interdisciplinary approach to literature and history of modern materials. |
| Note |
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed Jan. 25, 2024). |
| Contents |
Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Series Editors' Preface -- Preface: What's the Use of Writing about Asbestos? -- Introduction: Asbestos and Modernism -- 1 A Utopian Impulse -- Introduction -- 1 A Utopian Impulse -- 2 Clues and Mysteries -- Part II: Configuring Asbestos -- Introduction -- 3 Salamander Cotton -- 4 Illness Narratives -- 5 Compensating for Franz Kafka -- Part III: Transforming Asbestos -- Introduction -- 6 The Mine -- 7 The Factory -- 8 The Home -- Conclusion: The Dump -- Bibliography -- Index. |
| Language |
In English. |
| Subject |
Asbestos.
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Medicine in literature.
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Amiante.
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Médecine -- Histoire -- 20e siècle.
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Médecine dans la littérature.
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asbestos.
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LITERARY CRITICISM / Comparative Literature.
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Literature
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Asbestos -- history |
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History, 20th Century |
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Medicine in Literature |
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Environmental Exposure -- history |
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Asbestos |
| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
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| Other Form: |
1474482422 |
| ISBN |
9781474482448 webready PDF |
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1474482449 |
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9781474482455 pub |
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1474482457 |
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9781474482424 hardback |
| Standard No. |
10.1515/9781474482448 doi |
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AU@ 000073990910 |
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NLM 9918680088406676 |
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