BIG AND SMALL: A Cultural History of Extraordinary Bodies

Does size matter? This ground-breaking book explores human size difference, specifically unusual bodies big and small, as a cultural marker in western scholarship, exploring miniaturism, giganticism, obesity, and the lived experiences of actual big and small people. The work addresses the use of physical measures to judge normalcy, goodness, gender identity and beauty while examining art, literature, folklore, social practices and scientific discourse ranging from the 17th century to the present. The book begins looking at the 'little man' (how Edmund Burke believed the miniature man inspired wonder) and small bodies, before moving on to big bodies and the concept of the "monstrous giant". Discover that the much loved fairy tale character Tom Thumb aligns with three characters in legend, a miniature valiant knight in King Arthur's court, a lustful and over-confident person who attempted to ravish a Queen and someone of similar stature who found success as an instructor, teaching children their letters and moral lessons in words of few syllables. One section of the book looks at the figure of the pygmy in postcolonial revision and brings Roald Dahl's 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory under the lens, critiquing the Oompa-Loompa characters who are 'clearly constructed as African pygmies' as they are described as 'pure black' with 'fuzzy heads' and are no taller than Wonka's knee. While considering larger bodies, the author considers how giants have historically been thought of as not smart, whether that is Homer's Polyphemus tricked by Odysseus or an early edition of Jack the Giant Killer in which the young boy outsmarts the two-headed Welsh giant through clever sleights and illusions. The study also considers Ted Hughes' fable The Iron Giant and the modern idea of a friendship between boy and giant or boy and technology as the iron man (who also happens to be an enormous sentient machine) consumes metal in order to survive but handles the human boy sensitively. To bring the ideas and theories to life, the book also includes fantastic images such as the cover design for Tom Swift and His Giant Robot in 1954, Louise Lentz Woodruff's sculpture featuring an enormous robot guiding a young male and female figures, and a painting by Anthony van Dyck of Queen Henrietta Maria with Sir Jeffrey Hudson in 1633 which portrays the monarch with a favoured member of her household, the 'court dwarf' Jeffrey Hudson. Colour images, 346pp.