Asbestos the Last Modernist Object

Presents the first extended account of asbestos in literature, film and visual culture.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 31 July 2022
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Few modern materials have had as profound and lasting impacts on histories of environmental toxicity, medical ignorance, and legal liability as asbestos. Originally hailed for its fire-resistant properties, asbestos is now widely recognized for the devastating illnesses it causes. This book presents a fresh perspective on the established history of asbestos, exploring how literature and film during and after modernism have responded to the material's proliferation through the built environment and its catastrophic effects on human health.

Beginning with surprising encounters writers have had with asbestos, such as Franz Kafka's part-ownership of an asbestos factory, Primo Levi's work in an asbestos mine, and James Kelman's early life as an asbestos factory worker, the book seeks to leverage literature to challenge prevailing truths in historical, legal, and medical scholarship. By modeling an interdisciplinary approach for tracing material intersections between modernism and the environmental and health humanities, Asbestos: The Last Modernist Object offers readers a compelling new method for engaging with the legacies of toxic materials.

Arthur Rose is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, where he conducts research on the intersections of literature, history, and environmental studies. His previous works include Modernism and the Environment: Literature, Culture, and the Natural World and The Modernist Imagination: Literature, Politics, and the Environment.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474482424