Scan barcode
A review by isalavinia
Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum by Kathryn Hughes
2.0
I started this book with enthusiasm, thinking I'd get what was promised in its introduction: an account of the body in the Victorian era.
What I got was just the rehashing of biographical facts that anyone even passingly familiar with the the people discussed would already know. In fact, most of it is freely available on wikipedia.
Hughes just recounts the biography of her subjects and drags each one down with information that is just a repetition of what others have already written about them.
"Why did the great philosophical novelist George Eliot feel so self-conscious that her right hand was larger than her left?"
She got it by churning butter. Wow. Groundbreaking.
"Exactly what made Darwin grow that iconic beard in 1862, a good five years after his contemporaries had all retired their razors?"
He had facial eczema, which is something that is reported everywhere where Darwin's health is mentioned.
"Who knew Queen Victoria had a personal hygiene problem as a young woman and the crisis that followed led to a hurried commitment to marry Albert?"
Everyone. The crisis, unlike what is implied, had nothing to do with how often the queen bathed, but with the horrid way Lady Flora Hastings was hounded by the queen, who accused her of being pregnant, and how badly things turned out for Victoria when Lady Flora finally died of liver cancer. Marrying Albert and producing an heir boosted her popularity.
And it goes on in the same vein, the whole book feels like one giant clickbait.
I can only recommend it to those who know nothing of these people and the time period, as it's a nice intro.
What I got was just the rehashing of biographical facts that anyone even passingly familiar with the the people discussed would already know. In fact, most of it is freely available on wikipedia.
Hughes just recounts the biography of her subjects and drags each one down with information that is just a repetition of what others have already written about them.
"Why did the great philosophical novelist George Eliot feel so self-conscious that her right hand was larger than her left?"
"Exactly what made Darwin grow that iconic beard in 1862, a good five years after his contemporaries had all retired their razors?"
"Who knew Queen Victoria had a personal hygiene problem as a young woman and the crisis that followed led to a hurried commitment to marry Albert?"
And it goes on in the same vein, the whole book feels like one giant clickbait.
I can only recommend it to those who know nothing of these people and the time period, as it's a nice intro.