Books of the Body: Anatomical Ritual and Renaissance Learning

Carlino, Andrea

ISBN 10: 0226092879 / ISBN 13: 9780226092874

Published by University of Chicago Press, 1999

About this Item

Publisher's hardback in nearly new condition: firm and square, strong joints, sharp corners, no bumps. Complete with original dustjacket: sharp and bright, no tears, no chips. Contents crisp, tight and clean; no pen-marks. Not from a library so no such stamps or labels, just a previous owner's bookplate at the paste-down. Thus a tidy book in very presentable condition.

Seller Inventory # 208319

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Books of the Body: Anatomical Ritual and Renaissance Learning
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226092879
• ISBN 13: 9780226092874
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Like New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Like New
• Weight: 20 ounces
• Seller catalogs:
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

We usually see the Renaissance as a marked departure from older traditions, but Renaissance scholars often continued to cling to the teachings of the past. For instance, despite the evidence of their own dissections, which contradicted ancient and medieval texts, Renaissance anatomists continued to teach those outdated views for nearly two centuries.

In Books of the Body, Andrea Carlino explores the nature and causes of this intellectual inertia. On the one hand, anatomical practice was constrained by a reverence for classical texts and the belief that the study of anatomy was more properly part of natural philosophy than of medicine. On the other hand, cultural resistance to dissection and dismemberment of the human body, as well as moral and social norms that governed access to cadavers and the ritual of their public display in the anatomy theater, also delayed anatomy's development.

A fascinating history of both Renaissance anatomists and the bodies they dissected, this book will interest anyone studying Renaissance science, medicine, art, religion, and society.