This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book traces 'performative' genealogy of trauma theory through Jean-Martin Charcot and Freud to Cathy Caruth and other contemporary theorists. It proposes a triangulation of tensions between the desire to forget trauma, the necessity to deliberately relive it to effect a cure and the uninvited intrusive hallucinations of trauma symptoms. The book addresses the theatrics of Charcot's practice as a means both of articulating the performative lineage of trauma theory and suggests that trauma symptoms are themselves performative in nature. It argues that Raymond Williams' notion of 'structure of feeling' can be used to identify a contemporary, societal 'psychic' trauma which pervades daily existence. The book looks at the world of the social through the events of Abu Ghraib and examines some fundamentals of stage performance in a discussion of corpsing and drying.

As part of its design to empower and restructure the police, the fascist regime aimed to deal with what it saw as a legacy of decades of disorganisation, neglect and malpractice left by the liberal state. Such intentions undoubtedly appealed to many of those in the Interior Ministry Police who had campaigned for an institutional overhaul. The fascist drive to 'clean up' the police was marked by a significant increase in inspections and investigations. The personal files of policemen stationed at Siena reveal a significant correlation between infractions and welfare problems, which, in the context of the economic ups and downs of the inter-war period, were fairly common, particularly in the lower ranks. In spite of the institution of a more rigid vetting system that would appear to reflect fascist ideological requisites, there is little evidence that the quality of recruits to the police improved under Benito Mussolini.

This chapter provides a detailed analysis of communal deaf social life in post-war north-west England. The most common and popular forms of leisure, entertainment and sporting activity are identified, together with local variations with north-west England and changes that occurred during the fifty years covered by this research. The chapter emphasises the centrality of deaf club activities in the life of the deaf community, with particular attention paid to shared holidays and trips and the ways in which certain sports had a communal significance that went far beyond the sporting events themselves.

Chapter 5 explores how different models of generation and sexuality provide a framework for juxtaposing inspired and uninspired creativity in Milton. The first section situates the poem's preformationist imagery against the developmental organic metaphors of late eighteenth-century literary criticism to show how Blake resists the naturalisation of genius and inspiration. The chapter then considers how the poem's scenes of epigenetic growth are used to symbolise a kind of narcissistic poetic activity which denies any participation of the divine. Building upon recent work on Blake's depiction of homosexuality, I show how Blake casts inspiration in homoerotic light to separate literary production from biological reproduction. The last section expands upon Milton's sexual myth by reading the poem against efforts by Erasmus Darwin, Richard Payne Knight and others to account for the origins of world religions via recourse to ancient fertility cults. This chapter ultimately argues that Milton, ending with the mythic transformation of reproductive bodies into symbolic images, presents itself as a poetic attempt to reverse the naturalising tendencies of late eighteenth-century criticism.

This chapter discusses the literary censorship of Katy O'Brien's novels: Mary Lavelle (1936) and The Land of Spices (1941). O'Brien's novels were banned in Ireland because of their explicit depiction of sex. The chapter emphasizes the political significance of O'Brien's novels, arguing that she offered to Irish society the ideal of liberal individualism.

Existing cultural forms guided early associations in both halves of the British railway life-world. The Electronic Model Railway Group is one of several functional associations linking geographically separated enthusiasts sharing interests in a particular aspect of railway modelling. Evidence about local societies serving enthusiasts for the prototype railway is fugitive, but what can be found reveals intriguing patterns. The trend line for Railway Modeller's register shows that the number of local British model railway clubs rose at least until the early 1980s. National railfan clubs like the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society (RCTS) articulate enthusiasts sharing broad interests in the modern prototype and/or preserved lines. Competing with a flourishing undergrowth of commercial rail tour companies, one major RCTS activity always has been to organise rail tours carrying members to places of particular railway interest.