Includes bibliographical references and index.

A pre-history of narrative prosthesis -- Renaissance historiography -- An age of enlightenment -- An age of satire -- Human flourishing -- Approaching normal -- Spectacular metaphors -- Why Tonga must die -- We normals -- Destigmatizing difference -- Disability autobiography -- The coalitional politics of disability.

"A Brief Literary History of Disability is a convenient, lucid, and accessible entry point into the rapidly evolving conversation around disability in literary studies. The book follows a chronological structure and each chapter pairs a well-known literary text with a foundational disability theorist in order to develop a simultaneous understanding of literary history and disability theory. The book as a whole, and each chapter, addresses three key questions: Why do we even need a literary history of disability? What counts as the literature of disability? Should we even talk about a literary aesthetic of disability? This book is the ideal starting point for anyone wanting to add some disability studies to their literature teaching in any period, and for any students approaching the study of literature and disability"--