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This title in other editionsOther titles in the Animalibus: Of Animals and Cultures series:The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longingby Rachel Poliquin
Staff Pick
Taxidermy has been a particular fascination of mine ever since I was a small child. My family's favorite pizza parlor was covered with nature's lifeless bounty, as was Marsh's Free Museum in Long Beach, Washington, where we had a beach house. With Jake the Alligator Man as a close personal friend, it is no wonder that I found myself drawn to The Breathless Zoo. Taxidermy isn't a morbid or dark interest; it's more about the awe and wonder of trying to capture a creature's power and beauty. I think of it in the same vein as mummification — the urge to preserve life in a very small way. Like bottling fireflies. This book, however, takes the art to a whole new level. Each page is like peering into a new cubby of a curio cabinet. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:From sixteenth-century cabinets of wonders to contemporary animal art, The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing examines the cultural and poetic history of preserving animals in lively postures. But why would anyone want to preserve an animal, and what is this animal-thing now? Rachel Poliquin suggests that taxidermy is entwined with the enduring human longing to find meaning with and within the natural world. Her study draws out the longings at the heart of taxidermy—the longing for wonder, beauty, spectacle, order, narrative, allegory, and remembrance. In so doing, The Breathless Zoo explores the animal spectacles desired by particular communities, human assumptions of superiority, the yearnings for hidden truths within animal form, and the loneliness and longing that haunt our strange human existence, being both within and apart from nature.
Table of ContentsContents
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Wonder 2 Beauty 3 Spectacle 4 Order 5 Narrative 6 Allegory 7 Remembrance Notes Index What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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