Murky Waters by Sophie Vasset

Murky Waters by Sophie Vasset

Murky waters challenges the refined image of spa towns in eighteenth-century Britain by unveiling darker and more ambivalent contemporary representations. It reasserts the centrality of health in British spas by looking at disease, the representation of treatment and the social networks of care woven into spa towns. The book explores the great variety of medical and literary discourses on the numerous British spas in the long eighteenth century and offers a rare look at spas beyond Bath. Following the thread of 'murkiness', it explores the underwater culture of spas, from the gender fluidity of users to the local and national political dimensions, as well as the financial risks taken by gamblers and investors. It thus brings a fresh look at mineral waters and a pinch of salt to health-related discourses. -- .

'Murky Waters makes a convincing and fascinating case for the spa as an ambivalent, contradictory, space that melded nostalgia and bucolic landscapes with subversive potential: a venue for gossip, sexual experimentation, and forging new and radical political alliances'
Jennifer Wallis, Northern History

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Sophie Vasset is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies at the Institute for Research on the Renaissance, Classical Age and Enlightenment, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781526178824
ISBN 10	1526178826
Title	Murky Waters
Author	Sophie Vasset
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Manchester University Press
Year published	2024-04-30
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.