Disguising Disease in Italian Political and Visual Culture: From Post-Unification to COVID-19 (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Italy)

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Synopsis
Although considered an isolated event, the Italian government’s initial resistant response to COVID-19 has deep historical roots. This is the first interdisciplinary book to critically examine the ongoing phenomenon of disguising contagious disease in Italy from Unification to the present.The book explores how governments, public opinion, social entities and cultural production have avoided or sublimated contagion during cholera, typhoid, syphilis, malaria, HIV and COVID-19 to impose narratives of the nation’s healthy body in Italy and its colonies. Examples range from a tuberculosis sanatorium in Capri that masked as a luxury hotel and hideaway for queer couples to an obscure but talented professor who found a new cure for syphilis; from denial of disease in governmental actions to sublimated representations in Italian art, literature and films such as Luchino Visconti’s cinematic adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice to a sociological study of the need to include fragile figures based on the lessons of COVID-19.Intended for scholars, students and general readers interested in the history of medicine, political and cultural history, and Italian studies, this volume shows how contagious diseases clash with the official narrative of emerging modernized urban settings and challenge the desire for political and economic stability.
Copyright:
2025

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9781040121863
Related ISBNs:
9781040121856, 9781003382805, 9781032466798
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
selection and editorial matter, Sharon Hecker and Arianna Arisi Rota
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Medicine
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.
Edited by:
Sharon Hecker
Edited by:
Arianna Arisi Rota

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