Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté. Image fixe : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Malley, Shawn (1967-....)
Titre(s) : From archaeology to spectacle in Victorian Britain [Texte imprimé] : the case of Assyria, 1845-1854 / by Shawn Malley
Publication : Farnham ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate, c2012
Description matérielle : 1 vol. (XI-203 p.) : ill. ; 24 cm
Comprend : Introduction: Opening the Layard Box ; Layard Enterprise : An Archaeology of Informal
Imperialism ; Re-membering Assyria : The Case of the Bull and Lion ; Theatre/Archaeology
: Sardanapalus, 1853 ; In the Shadow of the Bull : Archaeology, War, Entropy ; Precession
of the Bull : Simulated Assyria ; Conclusion: Digging up the Future : Assyria in
Science Fiction.
Note(s) : Includes bibliographical references and index
In his examination of the excavation of ancient Assyria by Austen Henry Layard, Shawn
Malley reveals how, by whom, and for what reasons the stones of Assyria were deployed
during a brief but remarkably intense period of archaeological activity in the mid-nineteenth
century. His book encompasses the archaeological practices and representations that
originated in Layard's excavations, radiated outward by way of the British Museum
and Layard's best-selling "Nineveh and Its Remains" (1849), and were then dispersed
into the public domain of popular amusements. That the stones of Assyria resonated
in debates far beyond the interests of religious and scientific groups is apparent
in the prevalence of poetry, exhibitions, plays, and dioramas inspired by the excavation.
Of particular note, correspondence involving high-ranking diplomatic personnel and
museum officials demonstrates that the 'treasures' brought home to fill the British
Museum served not only as signs of symbolic conquest, but also as covert means for
extending Britain's political and economic influence in the Near East. Malley takes
up issues of class and influence to show how the middle-class Layard's celebrity status
both advanced and threatened aristocratic values. Tellingly, the excavations prompted
disturbing questions about the perils of imperial rule that framed discussions of
the social and political conditions which brought England to the brink of revolution
in 1848 and resurfaced with a vengeance during the Crimean crisis. In the provocative
conclusion of this meticulously documented and suggestive book, Malley points toward
the striking parallels between the history of Britain's imperial investment in Mesopotamia
and the contemporary geopolitical uses and abuses of Assyrian antiquity in post-invasion
Iraq
Sujet(s) : Layard, Austen Henry (1817-1894)
Fouilles archéologiques -- Irak -- 19e siècle
Opinion publique -- Grande-Bretagne -- 19e siècle
Assyrie -- Opinion publique britannique
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9781409426899 (hardcover) (alk. paper). - ISBN 1409426890 (hardcover) (alk. paper).
- ISBN 9781409426905 (ebook). - ISBN 1409426904 (ebook)
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb435700633
Notice n° :
FRBNF43570063
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
