The Secrets of Generation : Reproduction in the Long Eighteenth Century

From Theories Of Conception And Concepts Of Species To Museum Displays Of Male Genitalia And The Politics Of Breastmilk, The Secrets Of Generation Is An Interdisciplinary Examination Of The Many Aspects Of Reproduction In The Eighteenth Century. Exploring The Theme Of Generation From The Perspective Of Histories Of Medicine, Literature, Biology, Technology, And Culture, This Collection Offers A Range Of Cutting-edge Approaches. Its Twenty-four Contributors, Scholars From Across Europe And North America, Bring An International Perspective To Discuss Reproduction In British, French, American, German, And Italian Contexts. The Definitive Collection On Eighteenth-century Generation And Its Many Milieus, The Secrets Of Generation Will Be An Essential Resource For Studying This Topic For Years To Come.-- Generation, Species, Breeding. Reproducing Species -- Cultures And Politics Of Preformationism In Eighteenth-century Italy -- Theories Of Generation And The History Of Life -- Born To Virtue : Ideas Of Generation And The Eighteenth-century Elites -- Improving Reproduction : Articulations Of Breeding And Race-mixing In French And German Discourse (1750-1800) -- New Attention To Incest And Inbreeding As Ways Of Reproduction Around 1800 : A Case Study Of The Mignon Episode In Goethe's Wilhelm Meister -- Fetus, Child, Mother. Changing Views On Generation : Images Of The Unborn -- The Problem Of Maternal Violence : Anatomy, Forensic Medicine, And The Mind -- Birth Anomaly An Childhood Disability -- Motherhood, Hysteria, And The Eighteenth-century Woman Writer -- Mothers And Others : The Politics Of Lactation In Medical Consultation Letters Addressed To Samuel-auguste Tissot -- Reproduction In British Women's Novels Of The 1790s -- Pathologies, Body Parts, Display. Unfit For Generation : Body Size And Reproduction -- Deformity Of The Maternal Pelvis In Late Eighteenth-century Britain -- The Debris Of Life : Diseased Ovaries In Eighteenth-century Medicine -- Intestinal Chaos : Tapeworms, Dead Flesh, And Reproduction During The Eighteenth Century -- A Bit Exposed : Displays Of Male Genitals -- Attitudes, Tropes, Satire. The Aristotle Texts, Sex, And The American Woman -- Eve's Choices : Procreation, Reproduction, And The Politics Of Generation In Paradise Lost -- Making Babies : Eighteenth-century Attitudes Towards Conception, Reproduction, And Childbirth -- Makind The Rounds In The Old And New Foundling Hospitals For Wit : (mis)conceptions About Conceiving -- Panspermist Jokes, Reproductive Technologies, And Virgin Birhts : Some Enlightenment Luciniades. Edited By Raymond Stephanson And Darren N. Wagner. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface Introduction • Raymond Stephanson and Darren N. Wagner Part One: Generation, Species, Breeding 1 Reproducing Species • Staffan Müller-Wille 2 Cultures and Politics of Preformationism in Eighteenth-Century Italy • Ivano Dal Prete 3 Theories of Generation and the History of Life • Peter J. Bowler 4 Born to Virtue: Ideas of Generation and the Eighteenth-Century Elites • John C. Waller 5 Improving Reproduction: Articulations of Breeding and “Race-Mixing” in French and German Discourse (1750–1800) • Susanne Lettow 6 New Attention to Incest and Inbreeding as Ways of Reproduction around 1800: A Case Study of the Mignon Episode in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister • Christine Lehleiter Part Two: Fetus, Child, Mother 7 Changing Views on Generation – Images of the Unborn • Sebastian Pranghofer 8 The Problem of Maternal Violence: Anatomy, Forensic Medicine, and the Mind • Corinna Wagner 9 Birth Anomaly and Childhood Disability • David M. Turner 10 Motherhood, Hysteria, and the Eighteenth-Century Woman Writer • Heather Meek 11 Mothers and Others: The Politics of Lactation in Medical Consultation Letters Addressed to Samuel-Auguste Tissot • Sonja Boon 12 Reproduction in British Women’s Novels of the 1790s • Jennifer Golightly Part Three: Pathologies, Body Parts, Display 13 “Unfit for Generation”: Body Size and Reproduction • Sarah Toulalan 14 Deformity of the Maternal Pelvis in Late Eighteenth-Century Britain • Pam Lieske 15 The Debris of Life: Diseased Ovaries in Eighteenth-Century Medicine • Sally Frampton 16 Intestinal Chaos: Tapeworms, Dead Flesh, and Reproduction during the Eighteenth Century • Lianne McTavish 17 A Bit Exposed: Displays of Male Genitals • Darren N. Wagner Part Four: Attitudes, Tropes, Satire 18 The Aristotle Texts, Sex, and the American Woman • Marcia D. Nichols 19 Eve’s Choices: Procreation, Reproduction, and the Politics of Generation in Paradise Lost • Corrinne Harol and Jessica MacQueen 20 Making Babies: Eighteenth-Century Attitudes towards Conception, Reproduction, and Childbirth • Julie Peakman and Sarah Watkins 21 Making the Rounds in the Old and New Foundling Hospitals for Wit: (Mis)Conceptions about Conceiving • Donald W. Nichol 22 Panspermist Jokes, Reproductive Technologies, and Virgin Births: Some Enlightenment Luciniades • George Rousseau List of Contributors Index