Bodies & Selves Early Mod England: Physiology and Inwardness in Spenser, Shakespeare, Herbert, and Milton (Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture)

Schoenfeldt

ISBN 10: 0521669022 / ISBN 13: 9780521669023

Published by Cambridge University Press 2008-01-12, 2008

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 6666-IUK-9780521669023

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Bodies & Selves Early Mod England: Physiology and Inwardness in Spenser, Shakespeare, Herbert, and Milton (Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press 2008-01-12
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521669022
• ISBN 13: 9780521669023
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Michael Schoenfeldt's fascinating study explores the close relationship between selves and bodies, psychological inwardness and corporeal processes, as they are represented in English Renaissance literature. After Galen, the predominant medical paradigm of the period envisaged a self governed by humors, literally embodying inner emotion by locating and explaining human passion within a taxonomy of internal organs and fluids. It thus gave a profoundly material emphasis to behavioral phenomena, giving the poets of the period a vital and compelling vocabulary for describing the ways in which selves inhabit and experience bodies.

Review

"Including extensive notes in lieu of a separate bibliography, this rich and rewarding book is very highly recommended for all academic libraries..." Choice

"...a useful addition to the growing body of studies addressing the complexity of the early modern self...this is a book to read, mark, and inwardly digest." Sixteenth Century Journal

"But food and appetite may, indeed, have been as important as sex, if not more so, and Schoenfeldt's Bodies and Selves takes a critical step in defining the scope and significance of that consuming obsession." Modern Philology