Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture
Balzac claimed that toilettes were the expression of society. Coiffures describes the historical and cultural practices associated with women's hairstyles, hair care, and hair art in nineteenth-century France. Hair also has profound symbolic significance. Lying on the border between life and death, it grows, but does not feel. It marks sexual identity; it can be wild and erotic or tamed and made docile by hairdressing. Literary works are inevitably informed by social and cultural practices, and those of the period make extensive use of the meanings of hair. The Realist novelists in particular devote great attention to the physical traits and dress of their characters, and hair is often a key element in their descriptions and plots. Coiffures shows how a wide range of literary works incorporate the manifold aspects of hair, and it examines particular texts in detail, including works by Balzac, Sand, Flaubert, Zola, Gautier, Maupassant, and Rodenbach.
"1022314941"
Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture
Balzac claimed that toilettes were the expression of society. Coiffures describes the historical and cultural practices associated with women's hairstyles, hair care, and hair art in nineteenth-century France. Hair also has profound symbolic significance. Lying on the border between life and death, it grows, but does not feel. It marks sexual identity; it can be wild and erotic or tamed and made docile by hairdressing. Literary works are inevitably informed by social and cultural practices, and those of the period make extensive use of the meanings of hair. The Realist novelists in particular devote great attention to the physical traits and dress of their characters, and hair is often a key element in their descriptions and plots. Coiffures shows how a wide range of literary works incorporate the manifold aspects of hair, and it examines particular texts in detail, including works by Balzac, Sand, Flaubert, Zola, Gautier, Maupassant, and Rodenbach.
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Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture

Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture

by Carol Rifelj
Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture

Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture

by Carol Rifelj

Hardcover

$128.00 
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Overview

Balzac claimed that toilettes were the expression of society. Coiffures describes the historical and cultural practices associated with women's hairstyles, hair care, and hair art in nineteenth-century France. Hair also has profound symbolic significance. Lying on the border between life and death, it grows, but does not feel. It marks sexual identity; it can be wild and erotic or tamed and made docile by hairdressing. Literary works are inevitably informed by social and cultural practices, and those of the period make extensive use of the meanings of hair. The Realist novelists in particular devote great attention to the physical traits and dress of their characters, and hair is often a key element in their descriptions and plots. Coiffures shows how a wide range of literary works incorporate the manifold aspects of hair, and it examines particular texts in detail, including works by Balzac, Sand, Flaubert, Zola, Gautier, Maupassant, and Rodenbach.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781611491487
Publisher: University Press Copublishing Division
Publication date: 06/01/2010
Pages: 298
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Carol Rifelj was a professor of French at Middlebury College.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations 7

Acknowledgments 9

Introduction 13

1 The Language of Hairstyles 32

2 Sex and Sexual Identity 83

3 Color 119

4 Toilettes 156

5 Cuts and Locks 199

Conclusion 243

Notes 250

Bibliography 278

Index 291

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