{"product_id":"disgustatory-a-gothic-rhetoric-of-consumption-paperback-softback-9780817362621","title":"Disgustatory!; A Gothic Rhetoric of Consumption (Paperback \/ softback) 9780817362621","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eDisgustatory!\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA Gothic Rhetoric of Consumption\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eJeremy Tirrell (Author), Kate Maddalena (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780817362621\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 15 July 2026\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e316 pages, 0 Figures - 2 Tables\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.454 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Disgustatory! \u003c\/em\u003eis excellent: it showcases the principal elements of Gothic rhetoric, yet its scholarly contributions go well beyond rhetoric. This book will also appeal to scholars in Gothic studies, food studies, science and technology studies, wellness studies, and more.\" - Colleen Derkatch, author of \u003cem\u003eWhy Wellness Sells: Natural Health in a Pharmaceutical Culture\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The book is cleverly argued and vibrantly written. Tirrell and Maddalena capture the grotesque landscape of modern nutrition and illustrate how discourses of collective consumption find themselves at a particularly gothic junction. A delicious rhetorical romp and a delectable argument, brimming with jouissance.\" - Cristina Hanganu-Bresch, coauthor of \u003cem\u003eDiagnosing Madness: The Discursive Construction of the Psychiatric Patient, 1850-1920 \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A capacious exploration of the gothic rhetorics at the root of the modern wellness industry, \u003cem\u003eDisgustatory! \u003c\/em\u003eoffers a compelling analysis of how wellness influencers leverage horror, monstrosity, and the grotesque to shape the consumptive practices of their followers.\" - S. Scott Graham, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Doctor and the Algorithm: Promise, Peril, and the Future of Health AI\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Combined inquiries into pseudoscience, 'the strange,' and consumption make for a compelling read.\" - Jenny Rice, author of \u003cem\u003eAwful Archives: Conspiracy Theory, Rhetoric, and Acts of Evidence\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eA critical exploration of how Gothic tropes infiltrate wellness discourse, revealing the rhetorical forces behind our cultural obsession with food, health, and bodily control.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDisgustatory! A Gothic Rhetoric of Consumption\u003c\/i\u003e unearths the darkness behind modern obsessions with food, health, and bodily optimization. In this provocative and richly interdisciplinary work, Jeremy Tirrell and Kate Maddalena argue that contemporary discourses around food, medicine, and the body are steeped in Gothic rhetoric—where the promise of purity and control is shadowed by monstrosity, abjection, and the uncanny.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Soylent and nootropics to probiotics and lab-grown meat, Tirrell and Maddalena show how wellness discourse is haunted by Gothic tropes: body horror, hybridity, and existential dread. Wellness culture, they argue, is not merely pseudoscience or fraud but a complex, persuasive rhetoric that blurs science and myth, purity and decay, medicine and mysticism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDisgustatory!\u003c\/i\u003e offers a fresh framework: a \"Gothic rhetoric of consumption\" that explains why we are drawn to weird diets, digital detoxes, and miracle cures. Through case studies of strange substances and stranger practices—Reddit fasting rituals, magic dirt supplements, fecal transplants— Tirrell and Maddalena reveal how fear, fascination, and the fantasy of bodily control animate our health choices. Each chapter explores a rhetorical element—quantification, hybridity, abjection, optimization, and regulation—to show how food becomes a site of cultural anxiety and existential longing. This book will appeal to rhetoricians, scholars of science and technology studies, cultural theorists, and anyone interested in the strange intersections of health, horror, and persuasion.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChapter 1. Quantification: Soylent's and Juicero's Mathematical Monstrosities\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChapter 2. Hybridity: The Paradox of Lab-Grown Flesh\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChapter 3. Abjection: Probiotics and the Gothic Terrain\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChapter 4. Optimization: Nootropics and the Rhetorical Turning\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChapter 5. Regulation: Reddit's Rules for (Dis)Ordered Eating\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConclusion\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBibliography\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University Alabama Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52574471389464,"sku":"9780817362621","price":24.89,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/disgustatory-a-gothic-rhetoric-of-consumption-paperback-softback-9780817362621","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}