Leslie Fiedler - Freaks: Myths and Images of the Secret Self

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From two-headed men to seven-breasted women, from giants and dwarfs to Siamese twins, the phenomenon of the freak has fascinated people for centuries. In this classic study of the very nature of that fascination, the renowned literary and cultural critic Leslie Fiedler offers an in-depth examination of society’s views of the freak from classical times to the present.

Holy figure or showpiece, object of scorn or pity, symbol of human alienation or of the future possibilities of the human race - all are images with which the freak has been associated throughout history. In identifying them, Fiedler reveals the semireligious awe, uneasiness, terror, and sympathy that have defined our reactions to the freak in both life and art. Drawing from history, sociology, anthropology, Freudian psychology, biology, literature, and popular culture, Fiedler shows above all how we perceive the freak as the ‘other’, the dark and unnatural mirror of ourselves.