The Smile Revolution: In Eighteenth Century Paris - Softcover

Jones, Colin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019871582X ISBN 13: 9780198715825

Verlag: Oxford University Press, 2017

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Críticas

'Colin Jones knows as much about eighteenth century France as any man alive, and in this study he brings together his prodigious learning and robust curiosity to produce a book that should bring a smile to even the most sullen scholarly face ... Jones tells [his] tale with tremendous insight and wit, drawing on his knowledge of an astonishing array of disciplines and sub-disciplines, from the history of medicine to the history of art. (Darrin M. McMahon, American Historical Review)

... the book... is, among other things, a secret history of dentistry and, because of Jones's wit and erudition, one simply can't imagine the topic being more fascinatingly handled. (Spear's)

...entertaining and highly readable (Network Review, David Lorimer)

an important contribution to the history of medicine as well as the history of the emotions...It is immensely readable (Reviews in History, Dr Jennifer Wallis)

The most intriguing sections of Jones's book examine the establishment of dentistry as a medical science and respectable profession in the 18th century. (Jonathan Beckman, London Review of Books)

highly readable, intelligent, unpretentious and even mischievous book... Jones's ingenious and puckish book, poised between high culture and pop psychology, is both entertaining and informative (TLS, Patrice Higonnet)

undefined (Mary Beard, Book of the Year 2014, Guardian)

Politics, literature, dentistry and art are wrapped up in a brilliant piece of scholarship. (Michael Prodger, Book of the Year 2014, New Statesman)

fascinating exploration (Mary Beard, The Spectator)

Fascinating book (The Good Book Guide)

Reseña del editor

You could be forgiven for thinking that the smile has no history; it has always been the same. However, just as different cultures in our own day have different rules about smiling, so did different societies in the past. In fact, amazing as it might seem, it was only in late eighteenth century France that western civilization discovered the art of the smile. In the 'Old Regime of Teeth' which prevailed in western Europe until then, smiling was quite literally frowned upon. Individuals were fatalistic about tooth loss, and their open mouths would often have been visually repulsive. Rules of conduct dating back to Antiquity disapproved of the opening of the mouth to express feelings in most social situations. Open and unrestrained smiling was associated with the impolite lower orders.

In late eighteenth-century Paris, however, these age-old conventions changed, reflecting broader transformations in the way people expressed their feelings. This allowed the emergence of the modern smile par excellence: the open-mouthed smile which, while highlighting physical beauty and expressing individual identity, revealed white teeth. It was a transformation linked to changing patterns of politeness, new ideals of sensibility, shifts in styles of self-presentation - and, not least, the emergence of scientific dentistry. These changes seemed to usher in a revolution, a revolution in smiling. Yet if the French revolutionaries initially went about their business with a smile on their faces, the Reign of Terror soon wiped it off. Only in the twentieth century would the white-tooth smile re-emerge as an accepted model of self-presentation.

In this entertaining, absorbing, and highly original work of cultural history, Colin Jones ranges from the history of art, literature, and culture to the history of science, medicine, and dentistry, to tell a unique and untold story about a facial expression at the heart of western civilization.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• ISBN 10: 019871582X
• ISBN 13: 9780198715825
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 248