Originally published: Oxford : Berg Publishers, 2010. Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-282) and index.
Contents:
Introduction : Enlightenment bodies / Ruth Perry. Self and society : attitudes toward incest in popular ballads / Lisa Forman Cody -- Pliable bodies : the moral biology of health and disease / Kevin Siena -- Sexual knowledge : panspermist jokes, reproductive technologies, and virgin births / George Rousseau -- Medical knowledge : the adventures of Mr. Machine, with morals / Jessica Riskin -- Popular beliefs about the dead body / Ruth Richardson -- The body beautiful / David M. Turner -- Marked bodies and social meanings / Laura Gowing -- The puzzle of the pox-marked body / Susan Staves -- Cultural representations : rogue literature and the reality of the begging body / Tim Hitchcock -- Self and society : attitudes toward incest in popular ballads / Ruth Perry.
Summary:
The Enlightenment, 1650-1800 was a time when people began to take stock of their intrinsic worth as individuals. Of course, slaves were still property, servants and apprentices were indentured, daughters 'belonged' to fathers and brothers, wives to husbands, and paupers were tethered to their parish. But change was in the air as increased population, migration and urbanization began to reshape both national and personal identity. The birth of modern society in the Enlightenment demanded a rethinking of the human body in all its forms, from conception to death and beyond. The history of midwives, medics, colonialists, cross-dressers, corpses, vampires, witches, beggars, beauties, body snatchers, incest and immaculate conceptions - all reveal how the body changed in this age of turbulence and transition. This book presents an overview of the period.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.