Hard Cover. New. New Book; Fast Shipping from UK; Not signed; Not First Edition; The About Face: German Physiognomic Thought from Lavater to Auschwitz. ISBN 0814331793 9780814331798 [GB]

Wayne State Univ Pr, Date: 2004. Hardcover. New. 464 pages. 9.00x6.25x1.50 inches. 2004. Wayne State Univ Pr ISBN 0814331793 9780814331798 [GB]

ISBN10: 0814331793, ISBN13: 9780814331798, [publisher: Kritik: German Literary Theory And Cultural Studie] Hardcover nach der Bestellung gedruckt Neuware - Printed after ordering - Once associated with astrology and occultist prophecy, the art of interpreting personal character based on facial and other physical features dates back to antiquity. About Face tells the intriguing story of how physiognomics became particularly popular during the Enlightenment, no longer as a mere parlor game but as an empirically grounded discipline. The story expands to illuminate an entire tradition within German culture, stretching from Goethe to the rise of Nazism.In About Face, Richard T. Gray explores the dialectical reversal-from the occult to the scientific realm-that entered physiognomic thought in the late eighteenth century, beginning with the positivistic writings of the Swiss pastor Johann Caspar Lavater. Originally claimed to promote understanding and love, physiognomics devolved into a system aimed at valorizing a specific set of physical, moral, and emotional traits and stamping everything else as 'deviant.' This development not only reinforced racial, national, and characterological prejudices, but lent such beliefs a presumably scientific grounding.In the period following World War I, physiognomics experienced yet another, unprecedented boom in popularity. Gray explains how physiognomics had by then become a highly respected 'super-discipline' that ...
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Wayne State University Press. Hardcover. New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! Wayne State University Press ISBN 0814331793 9780814331798 [US]