Death by a thousand cuts
"A unique interdisciplinary history, Death by a Thousand Cuts is the first book to explore the history, iconography, and legal contexts of Chinese tortures and executions from the tenth century until lingchi's abolition in 1905. The authors then turn their attention to an in-depth investigation of "oriental" tortures in the Western imagination. While early modern Europeans often depicted Chinese institutions as rational, nineteenth- and twentieth-century readers consumed pictures of lingchi exe…
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- Full title :Death by a thousand cuts / Timothy Brook, Jérôme Bourgon, Gregory Blue.
Summary
"A unique interdisciplinary history, Death by a Thousand Cuts is the first book to explore the history, iconography, and legal contexts of Chinese tortures and executions from the tenth century until lingchi's abolition in 1905. The authors then turn their attention to an in-depth investigation of "oriental" tortures in the Western imagination. While early modern Europeans often depicted Chinese institutions as rational, nineteenth- and twentieth-century readers consumed pictures of lingchi executions as titillating curiosities and evidence of moral inferiority. By examining these works in light of European conventions associated with despotic government, Christian martyrdom, and ecstatic suffering, the authors unpack the stereotype of innate Chinese cruelty and explore the mixture of fascination and revulsion that has long characterized the West's encounter with "other" civilizations." "Compelling and thought-provoking, Death by a Thousand Cuts questions the logic by which states justify tormenting individuals and the varied ways by which human beings have exploited the symbolism of bodily degradation for political aims."--Jacket.
Read More ↓Edition Statements
- Publication Date:2008.
Publication Statements
- Publisher(s):Harvard University Press
- Place of Publication:Cambridge, Mass
- Language:eng
- Publication Date:2008.
The Physical Object
- Description:xi, 320 pages : : illustrations ; : 25 cm
Edition Identifiers
- ISBN:9780674027732, 0674027736
- oclc:ocn163593490
- LC Classification:HV8699.C6
- Dewey Decimal:364.660951
Table of Contents
The execution of Wang Weiqin -- The laws of punishment in late Imperial China -- The origins of lingchi and problems of its legitimacy -- Lingchi in the Ming Dynasty -- Tormenting the dead -- Chinese torture in the Western mind -- Misreading lingchi -- Georges Bataille's interpretation -- Lingering on.
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