ABSTRACT

An examination of how the body--its organs, limbs, and viscera--were represented in the literature and culture of early modern Europe. This provocative volume demonstrates, the symbolism of body parts challenge our assumptions about "the body" as a fundamental Renaissance image of self, society, and nation.

part I|125 pages

Subjecting the Part

chapter 2|19 pages

Members Only

Marot's Anatomical Blazons

chapter 3|29 pages

Out of Joint

chapter 4|27 pages

Sins of the Tongue

chapter 5|25 pages

Visceral Knowledge

Shakespeare, Skepticism, and the Interior of the Early Modern Body

chapter 6|19 pages

Nervous Tension

Networks of Blood and Spirit in the Early Modern Body

part II|91 pages

Sexing the Part

chapter 7|17 pages

Is the Fundament a Grave?

chapter 8|23 pages

Missing the Breast

Desire, Disease, and the Singular Effect of Amazons

chapter 9|23 pages

The Rediscovery of the Clitoris

French Medicine and the Tribade, 1570–1620

chapter 10|23 pages

Taming the Basilisk

part III|91 pages

Divining the Part

chapter 11|21 pages

11 Mutilation and Meaning

chapter 14|25 pages

“God's handy worke”

Divine Complicity and the Anatomist's Touch

part IV|15 pages

Parting Words

chapter 15|13 pages

Footnotes