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Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives

Ryan Sweet Orcid Logo

Literature and Medicine, Volume: 2, Pages: 230 - 246

Swansea University Author: Ryan Sweet Orcid Logo

DOI (Published version): 10.1017/9781108355148.016

Abstract

This essay investigates how and why physical ‘wholeness’ became culturally dominant in the nineteenth century, and how literary representations of prosthetics engaged with this hegemony. The first part parses the historical factors underpinning the rise of physical ‘normalcy’, including coalescing t...

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Published in: Literature and Medicine
ISBN: 9781108355148
Published: Cambridge University Press 2021
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59579
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first_indexed 2022-03-12T04:27:36Z
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spelling v2 59579 2022-03-11 Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives 6c7e97eb11090ab27457aee892340748 0000-0003-1337-5699 Ryan Sweet Ryan Sweet true false 2022-03-11 ACLA This essay investigates how and why physical ‘wholeness’ became culturally dominant in the nineteenth century, and how literary representations of prosthetics engaged with this hegemony. The first part parses the historical factors underpinning the rise of physical ‘normalcy’, including coalescing theories that drew together mind and body, the rise of bodily statistics, lingering fears of contagion, changes to the Poor Laws, unshifting gendered social demands, and the marketing efforts of emerging prosthetists. The second part then turns to transgressive literary imaginaries of prostheses. Using two fictional case studies that represent artificial-hand users, English poet, novelist, and playwright Robert Williams Buchanan’s ‘Lady Letitia’s Lilliput Hand’ (1862) and the lesser-known short-story writer T. Lockhart’s ‘Prince Rupert’s Emerald Ring’ (1895), I argue that literary representations of prostheses often simultaneously reinforced and complicated the hegemony of physical ‘completeness’. Such stories perpetuated fears of physical disaggregation while also bringing into question the efficacy of prostheticising. This essay therefore offers an innovative approach to Victorian studies and the history of prostheses by re-evaluating attitudes to artificial body parts in relation to the social mandate for ‘wholeness’ and highlighting how literary texts provided important critiques of prostheses designed to enable users to ‘pass’ as ‘normal’. Book chapter Literature and Medicine 2 230 246 Cambridge University Press 9781108355148 disability; prosthesis; artificial hand; physical wholeness; normalcy; gender; the body; Robert Williams Buchanan; T. Lockhart 4 6 2021 2021-06-04 10.1017/9781108355148.016 COLLEGE NANME Classics COLLEGE CODE ACLA Swansea University Not Required 2023-12-22T11:14:22.1537603 2022-03-11T08:53:04.6340151 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing Ryan Sweet 0000-0003-1337-5699 1 59579__23754__5c6c273f6d3a42939c7478909e7c31df.pdf 59579.pdf 2022-03-31T17:11:00.6198256 Output 261901 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true true eng
title Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives
spellingShingle Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives
Ryan Sweet
title_short Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives
title_full Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives
title_fullStr Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives
title_full_unstemmed Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives
title_sort Physical ‘Wholeness’ and ‘Incompleteness’ in Victorian Prosthesis Narratives
author_id_str_mv 6c7e97eb11090ab27457aee892340748
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6c7e97eb11090ab27457aee892340748_***_Ryan Sweet
author Ryan Sweet
author2 Ryan Sweet
format Book chapter
container_title Literature and Medicine
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container_start_page 230
publishDate 2021
institution Swansea University
isbn 9781108355148
doi_str_mv 10.1017/9781108355148.016
publisher Cambridge University Press
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
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description This essay investigates how and why physical ‘wholeness’ became culturally dominant in the nineteenth century, and how literary representations of prosthetics engaged with this hegemony. The first part parses the historical factors underpinning the rise of physical ‘normalcy’, including coalescing theories that drew together mind and body, the rise of bodily statistics, lingering fears of contagion, changes to the Poor Laws, unshifting gendered social demands, and the marketing efforts of emerging prosthetists. The second part then turns to transgressive literary imaginaries of prostheses. Using two fictional case studies that represent artificial-hand users, English poet, novelist, and playwright Robert Williams Buchanan’s ‘Lady Letitia’s Lilliput Hand’ (1862) and the lesser-known short-story writer T. Lockhart’s ‘Prince Rupert’s Emerald Ring’ (1895), I argue that literary representations of prostheses often simultaneously reinforced and complicated the hegemony of physical ‘completeness’. Such stories perpetuated fears of physical disaggregation while also bringing into question the efficacy of prostheticising. This essay therefore offers an innovative approach to Victorian studies and the history of prostheses by re-evaluating attitudes to artificial body parts in relation to the social mandate for ‘wholeness’ and highlighting how literary texts provided important critiques of prostheses designed to enable users to ‘pass’ as ‘normal’.
published_date 2021-06-04T11:14:23Z
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score 10.997843

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