Reading Fiction with Lucian: Fakes, Freaks and Hyperreality
This book offers a captivating new interpretation of Lucian as a fictional theorist and writer to stand alongside the novelists of the day, bringing to bear on his works a whole new set of reading strategies. It argues that the aesthetic and cultural issues Lucian faced, in a world of mimesis and replication, were akin to those found in postmodern contexts: the ubiquity of the fake, the erasure of origins, the focus on the freakish and weird at the expense of the traditional.
Freaks is a fascinating yet ultimately touching work that emphasizes the humanity of the "freaks" over their oddities--at least, when the stories warrant it. Some of the individuals were treated very badly by their exhibitors (e.g., Julia Pastrana, the "ugliest woman in the world," and her equally hideous baby were mummified and displayed after they died); however, many took advantage of their condition to become international stars and make a lot of money (e.g., Zip the "What-Is-It").