Fictions of Legibility The Human Face and Body in Modern German Novels from Sophie Von La Roche to Alfred Döblin

Gabriela Stoicea examines how the incidence and role of physical descriptions in German novels changed between 1771 and 1929 in response to developments in the study of the human face and body. By including discussions from medicine, epistemology, semiotics, and aesthetics, the book draws out the multifaceted permutations of corporeal legibility.