The Fat, the Black, the Plain and the Ugly: The Unattractive Body in Early Modern Culture

胖、黑、素、丑：早期现代文化中不吸引人的身体

• 批准号: AH/D000114/1
• 负责人: Naomi Baker
• 金额: $ 2.51万
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2006 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FD000114%2F1
• 关键词: Fat; Black; Plain; Ugly; Unattractive

This book will explore the representation of ugliness in the literature and culture of early modern England. It will focus on ugliness in the ordinary sense of that which is considered unattractive, for example the ageing body, rather than bodies or features that are deformed to the point of being grotesque. My research will analyse representations of ugliness in the light of the emergence of modern forms of subjectivity in this period. Within earlier medieval traditions of the self, external appearance was assumed to be an apt reflection of inner nature. The modern subject, however, was grounded in a dualistic model of body and mind in which outward appearance ostensibly became irrelevant to the self within. An investigation of the changing meanings of ugliness in the early modern period provides a means of refining this model of modern identity. The meanings of ugliness became increasingly opaque in the literature of the era, yet residual ideologies of ugliness as a sign of character continued to circulate alongside emergent ideologies in which the face did not provide easy access to the authentic self. Ugliness retained powerful symbolic associations, particularly in relation to women and other marginalised groups. My research therefore examines representations of ugliness in order to explore the ongoing, problematic role of physical appearance within early modern identities.As well as addressing wider questions of the relationship between ugliness and identity in the early modern era, the study will comprise detailed readings of faces and bodies perceived to be ugly in early modern literature and culture, providing new readings of both well-known and lesser-known literary and cultural texts.

本书将探讨现代早期英国文学和文化中丑的表现。它将集中在丑陋的普通意义上，这是被认为是没有吸引力的，例如老化的身体，而不是身体或功能，是畸形的点是怪诞的。我的研究将根据这一时期出现的现代主体性形式来分析丑的表现。在早期的中世纪自我传统中，外表被认为是内在本质的恰当反映。然而，现代的主体是建立在身心二元模型的基础上的，在这种模型中，外表表面上与内在的自我无关。对现代早期丑的含义变化的调查提供了一种改进这种现代身份模型的方法。在那个时代的文学作品中，丑的含义变得越来越模糊，然而，将丑作为性格标志的残余意识形态继续与新兴意识形态一起传播，在这些意识形态中，脸并不能提供通往真实自我的便捷途径。丑陋保留了强大的象征性联想，特别是与妇女和其他边缘化群体有关。因此，我的研究考察了丑陋的表征，以探索早期现代身份中身体外观的持续、有问题的作用。除了解决早期现代时代丑陋与身份之间关系的更广泛问题外，这项研究将包括对早期现代文学和文化中被认为丑陋的面孔和身体的详细阅读，提供新的阅读知名和鲜为人知的文学和文化文本。