Bodies

Description

"Because they are so often told as news, contemporary legends force us to reevaluate life as we know it. They confront us with macabre, fantastic, horrific, or hilarious characters and events that seem to come straight out of myths and folktales but are repeated as present day facts. It is not at all easy to decide whether these often disturbing stories should be treated as reliable or dismissed as fantasy." "In this book Gillian Bennett traces the cultural history of six legends, well-known in Europe and America from medieval times to the present day. Appearing in broadsides, ballads, myths, ancient and modern legends, novels, plays, films, television shows, and stories told in the oral tradition, these legends are not just silly tales which can be dismissed as trivial and untrue. They reveal much about the concerns and fears of everyday life and demonstrate the limits of knowledge and power in the modern world."--Jacket.

First Sentence

In this chapter I shall be looking at the complex of old medical beliefs, religious and secular prodigy stories, and sensational stories of today that is generally referred to as the legend of the "Bosom Serpent."

Subjects

Other Editions

• Bodies: Sex, Violence, Disease, And Death In Contemporary LegendHardcoverUniversity Press of Mississippi2005-10-01
• BodiesUniversity Press of Mississippi2005-01-01
• BodiesUniversity Press of Mississippi2009-01-01
• BodiesUniversity Press of Mississippi2014-01-01