Fictions of Disease in Early Modern England Bodies, Plagues and Politics

by Healy, Margaret

• ISBN13: 9780333963999
• ISBN10: 0333963997
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-01-12
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

How did early modern people imagine their bodies? What impact did the new disease syphilis and recurrent outbreaks of plague have on these mental landscapes? Why was the glutted belly such a potent symbol of pathology? Ranging from the Reformation through the English Civil War, Fictions of Disease is a unique study of a fascinating cultural imaginary of "disease" and its political consequences. Healy's original approach illuminates the period's disease-impregnated literature, including works by Shakespeare, Heywood, Milton, Dekker, and others.

Author Biography

Margaret Healy is Lecturer in English, University of Sussex.

Table of Contents

List of Plates	viii
Acknowledgements	ix
List of Abbreviations	xi
A Note on the Text	xii
Introduction	1	(17)
The Humoral-Paracelsan Body	18	(32)
The Plaguy Body: Part I	50	(38)
The Plaguy Body: Part II	88	(35)
The Pocky Body: Part I	123	(29)
The Pocky Body: Part II	152	(36)
The Glutted, Unvented Body	188	(41)
Conclusion: Thinking through the Body	229	(9)
Appendix: Regimens Analysed in Chapter 1	238	(1)
Notes	239	(29)
Index	268