Imagining Tubercular Beauty

April D. Marshall (Pepperdine University, CA, USA).

It seems rather remarkable at first that the notion of anything “romantic” could involve disease and yet the tuberculosis patient is probably one of the most romanticized figures in art. The term “romantic” for the purposes of this study alludes to both what is called the Romantic tradition in Western literature, as well as, the more general notion of sentimental love, desire and sexuality. Tuberculosis was once referred to as “tuberculosis amatoria” and it is the female TB patient in particular who becomes the model of late 19 th century beauty. From opera to pre-Raphaelite art, the figure of the female tubercular was an icon of “romantic” beauty.

This study will detail the “tipo Traviata” as it came to be known, paying particular attention to the critical works of Linda and Michael Hutcheon and Susan Sontag. Employing examples from world literature, art and opera the discussion will focus on the cultural foundations and implications of representing the somatic symptoms of TB as emblems of physical beauty. Special attention will be given to the features mentioned in Rene and Jean Dubo’s classic study of tuberculosis first published in 1952, The White Plague: “The fragile silhouette, with long limbs, long fingers, long throat, the tired head leaning on a pillow, with prominent eyes and twisted sensual mouth...(57).

Ultimately this paper is an attempt to not only describe tubercular beauty, but to trace and understand the popularization and allure of the diseased image. How is it that the female tuberculosis patient comes to be considered attractive in the first place?