IMAGINING CONTAGION IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE; ED. BY CLAIRE L. CARLIN

The ideological underpinnings of early modern theories of contagion are dissected in this volume by an integrated team of literary scholars, cultural historians, historians of medicine and art historians. Even today, the spread of disease inspires moralizing discourse and the ostracism of groups thought responsible for contagion; the fear of illness and the desire to make sense of it are demonstrated in the current preoccupation with HIV, SARS, 'mad cow' disease, West Nile virus and avian flu, to cite but a few contemporary examples. Imagining Contagion in Early Modern Europe explores the nature of understanding when humanity is faced with threats to its well-being, if not to its very survival. In This Volume, Specialists In Social And Cultural History, Early Modern Literature, Philosophy And Art History Come Together To Explore The Intersection Between The Material And The Metaphorical At A Time When Emerging Scientific Discovery Coexisted With Traditional Beliefs. An Examination Of The Evolving Knowledge, Fears And Desires Of The Fifteenth To Eighteenth Centuries Can Help Us Reflect On The 21st-century Preoccupation With Contagious Diseases Such As Avian Influenza, Sars, West Nile Virus, Norwalk Virus And The New Strain Of Aids. The Idea Of Contagion Generates Powerful Metaphors That Colour Religious, Political And Artistic Discourse. But During The Early Modern Era, Words And Images Take On Literal Force: In Church Or In The Home Reading Novels, In The Political Arena Or While Travelling, Disease Shows Up In And On Bodies Under The Influence Of Language.--jacket. Part I. Theory -- Fracastoro's De Contagione And Medieval Reflection On 'action At A Distance': Old And New Trends In Renaissance Discourse On The Plague / Isabelle Pantin -- The Animism Of Ambient Air At The End Of The Middle Ages / Glaude Gagnon -- Windows On Contagion / Donald Beecher -- Contagions Of Love: Textual Transmission / Nancy Frelick -- The Devil's Curses: The Demonic Origin Of Disease In The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries / Marianne Closson -- Part Ii. Practice -- Apples And Moustaches: Montaigne's Grin In The Face Of Infection / Hélène Cazes -- Contagion, Honour And Urban Life In Early Modern Germany / Mitchell Lewis Hammond -- Corruptible Bodies And Contaminating Technologies: Jesuit Devotional Print And The 1656 Plague In Naples / Rose Marie San Juan -- Quarantine And Caress / Frédéric Charbonneau -- The Preaching Disease: Contagious Ecstasy In Eighteenth-century Sweden / Daniel Lindmark -- Part Iii. Projections -- A Contagion At The Source Of Discourse On Sexualities: Syphilis During The French Renaissance / Guy Poirier -- Contagious Laughter And The Burlesque: From The Literal To The Metaphorical / Dominique Bertrand -- The Pathology Of Reading: The Novel As An Agent Of Contagion / Michel Fournier -- Religious Contagion In Mid-seventeenth-century England / Nicole Greenspan -- Contagion By Conceit: Mentruosity And The Rhetoric Of Smallpox Into The Age Of Inoculation / David E. Shuttleton. Edited By Claire L. Carlin. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 261-270) And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Fracastoro’s De Contagione and Medieval Reflection on ‘Action at a Distance’: Old and New Trends in Renaissance Discourse on Contagion....Pages 3-15 The Animism of Ambient Air at the End of the Middle Ages....Pages 16-31 Windows on Contagion....Pages 32-46 Contagions of Love: Textual Transmission....Pages 47-62 The Devil’s Curses: The Demonic Origin of Disease in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries....Pages 63-76 Front Matter....Pages 77-77 Apples and Moustaches: Montaigne’s Grin in the Face of Infection....Pages 79-93 Contagion, Honour and Urban Life in Early Modern Germany....Pages 94-106 Corruptible Bodies and Contaminating Technologies: Jesuit Devotional Print and the 1656 Plague in Naples....Pages 107-123 Quarantine and Caress....Pages 124-138 The Preaching Disease: Contagious Ecstasy in Eighteenth-Century Sweden....Pages 139-153 Front Matter....Pages 155-155 A Contagion at the Source of Discourse on Sexualities: Syphilis during the French Renaissance....Pages 157-176 Contagious Laughter and the Burlesque: From the Literal to the Metaphorical....Pages 177-194 The Pathology of Reading: The Novel as an Agent of Contagion....Pages 195-211 Religious Contagion in Mid-Seventeenth Century England....Pages 212-227 Contagion by Conceit: Menstruosity and the Rhetoric of Smallpox into the Age of Inoculation....Pages 228-242 An Afterword on Contagion....Pages 243-260 Back Matter....Pages 261-289 In this volume, specialists in social and cultural history, early modern literature, philosophy and art history come together to explore the intersection between the material and the metaphorical at time when emerging scientific discovery coexisted with traditional beliefs. An examination of the evolving knowledge, fears and desires of the 15th and 18th centuries can help us reflect on the 21st century preoccupation with contagious diseases such as avian influenza, SARS, West Nile virus, Norwalk virus and the new strain of AIDS. The idea of contagion generates poweful metaphors that colour religious, political and artistic discourse. But during that early modern era, words and images take on literal force: in church or at home reading novels, in the political arena or while travelling, disease shows up in and on bodies under the influence of language