Tattooing is an ancient practice with profound religious and cultural significance. While western tattooing centres on three main traditions - Polynesian, Japanese and Euro-American -- it has been recorded more or less everywhere. Beginning with the birth of the tattoo, John Miller explores this unique expression of personal, cultural and national identity, the tension between tattoo's status as a fashion item and its roots in subculture, and the relevance of magic -- a crucial part of tattooing's origins -- in contemporary society. As the inherent shock factor of tattoos decreases, tattoos are becoming more extensive, public and challenging in response, prompting an upsurge in avant-garde tattoo projects and 'extreme' tattooing. The Philosophy of Tattoos investigates the innate human desire to mark the skin, and what tattooing might tell us about that obsessively asked question: what does it mean to be human?

About the Author
John Miller is Senior Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of Sheffield and editor of the classic fiction collection Tales of the Tattooed, published by the British Library in 2019.


Book Information
ISBN 9780712353083
Author John Miller
Format Hardback
Page Count 112
Imprint British Library Publishing
Publisher British Library Publishing