A Brief History of the Smile
Condition: SECONDHAND
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Since the dawn of civilisation, the smile has carried a bewildering range of meanings, from the supreme enlightenment of the Holy Buddha to the chilly rictus of the television news reader. Yet every smile whether deceitful or licentious, friendly or wicked, rude or polite, a leer or a snarl results from a physiological process common to all humans. Here, Angus Trumble combines erudition, wit and charm in a distinctive and illuminating account of the art of smiling in its broadest sense.
The smile intersects with countless fundamental aspects of human experience such as happiness, love, sex, piety and corruption to say nothing of lipstick and cosmetic surgery. Questions abound. Why do we smile? How does smiling fall in and out of fashion? Who really invented the smiley face? (It wasn't Forrest Gump.) Why do the English say cheese, the Danes appelsin (orange), the Finns muikku (a kind of fish) and the Koreans kim chi (fermented cabbage)? And what is it about Mona Lisa's enigmatic smirk that continues to intrigue us?
A Brief History of the Smile is a playful yet learned examination of not only the most immediate expressive contraction of which our bodies are capable', but of our very nature as social beasts.
r on this charming and distinctive account of the art of smiling, and illuminating his discussion with emblematic works of art - from 18th and 19th century European paintings to Japanese woodblock prints, from Archaic Greek sculpture to the lewd leer of the seventeenth-century Dutch chicken groper, and of course, the enigmatic mouth of the Mona Lisa.
A Brief History of the Smile is a learned and witty examination of not only the most immediate expressive contraction of which our bodies are capable but of our very nature as social beasts.
Author: Angus Trumble
Format: Paperback, 272 pages, 152mm x 230mm
Published: 2004, Allen & Unwin, Australia
Genre: Communication & Media
Description
Since the dawn of civilisation, the smile has carried a bewildering range of meanings, from the supreme enlightenment of the Holy Buddha to the chilly rictus of the television news reader. Yet every smile whether deceitful or licentious, friendly or wicked, rude or polite, a leer or a snarl results from a physiological process common to all humans. Here, Angus Trumble combines erudition, wit and charm in a distinctive and illuminating account of the art of smiling in its broadest sense.
The smile intersects with countless fundamental aspects of human experience such as happiness, love, sex, piety and corruption to say nothing of lipstick and cosmetic surgery. Questions abound. Why do we smile? How does smiling fall in and out of fashion? Who really invented the smiley face? (It wasn't Forrest Gump.) Why do the English say cheese, the Danes appelsin (orange), the Finns muikku (a kind of fish) and the Koreans kim chi (fermented cabbage)? And what is it about Mona Lisa's enigmatic smirk that continues to intrigue us?
A Brief History of the Smile is a playful yet learned examination of not only the most immediate expressive contraction of which our bodies are capable', but of our very nature as social beasts.
r on this charming and distinctive account of the art of smiling, and illuminating his discussion with emblematic works of art - from 18th and 19th century European paintings to Japanese woodblock prints, from Archaic Greek sculpture to the lewd leer of the seventeenth-century Dutch chicken groper, and of course, the enigmatic mouth of the Mona Lisa.
A Brief History of the Smile is a learned and witty examination of not only the most immediate expressive contraction of which our bodies are capable but of our very nature as social beasts.
A Brief History of the Smile