A study of supine, prone, and recumbent figures in contemporary literature The prostitute, the protester, the murder victim, the invalid, the layabout, the depressive: all are associated with lying down. Skewing and flattening the perpendicular axis that defines the human in Western philosophy, art, and humanist inquiry, these downward-directed figures’ refusals or failures to hew to the moral and postural logics of uprightness enable a reassessment of subjectivity, ecological relation, and representation—that last of which is, after all, a process of standing-in-for. Here Is a Figure: Grounding Literary Form works across an array of well-known and counter-canonical texts, showing that recumbent figures saturate the literary arts of the present and respond to the proliferation of contemporary forms of grounding, in all its meanings. Reading these figures in dialogue with critical Indigenous studies, disability studies, and horizontalist feminisms, Sarah Dowling reveals the potential in thinking with and through a position stretched out across, dependent on, and undetachable from the earth.

"From previous attempts you may have concluded that drawing the figure is difficult. This book will show you how to reduce complex figures into a variety of basic shapes that are easy to master, helping you to reach your goal of producing lifelike drawings. Tested through years of classroom use, the principles stressed here bring clear insights into drawing the human form. You'll find a logical, step-by-step method for mastering the construction and proportions of all figure types. First the basic forms are analyzed - the proportions of the various parts and their relations to the total figure. You'll then learn how these parts are connected and how they move and find exercises in drawing the complete figure in any position, engaged in a variety of activities. Also included are detailed studies of anatomy - examining bone and muscle structure - plus special instructions for drawing such intricate parts of the body as the head, hands and feet."--Publisher description.

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Vols. 1-8, 1880-87, plates published separately and numbered I-LXXXIII.