Introduction

In 1647, French Jesuit Theophile Raynaud published a voluminous four hundred and fifty-three-page treatise entirely devoted to marks on skin. Raynaud investigated Old and New Testament references to corporeal marking, discussing the mark of Cain, the Hebrew tradition of circumcision, and the marks of Christ claimed by Saint Paul. Diverse forms of corporeal marking shared a common vocabulary in the early modern period, a semantic intimacy that further testifies to the close relationships early moderns saw between different types of marks on skin. The skin as the physical boundary between inside and outside, private and public, self and other, serves as a privileged surface for expressing identity and claiming control over one’s body. As the prevalence of skin as a trope in the work of many contemporary French theorists attests, the skin’s liminal, in-between role makes it a highly charged space, fraught with meaning. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.