Consuming Angels: Advertising and Victorian Women

ISBN-13: 9780195085969 / Angielski / Twarda / 1994 / 240 str.

Lori Anne Loeb

Opis

Timid and retiring, the Victorian housewife was an "angel in the house," or so says the stereotype. But when this angel picked up a popular magazine--The Lady, for instance--she saw in its advertisements images of Grecian goddesses, women warriors, queens, actresses, adventurers. These arrestingly sexual and surprisingly powerful images are the subject of Consuming Angels, a major examination of how Victorian ads shaped social values. Stylishly written and featuring 73 reproductions, this book shows how ads used the hedonistic aspects of Victorian culture to sell their wares, glorified consumerism, and mythologized the middle-class life. Images of aggressive women, Loeb shows, played well to both men and women. And ultimately, these ads helped usher in the twentieth century with the creation of a new community: the community of consumers.

Recenzje

There is much to commend in this book. It is based on a painstaking analysis of over 250,000 Victorian advertisements, many of them from the John Johnson Collection at the Bodleian Library, and it is beautifully presented and illustrated. This book is a treasure trove of beautifully illustrated Victorian advertisements, and the reader acquires a real appreciation of the range and typology of the genre.