Writing as Medication in Early Modern France (eBook)

Literary Consciousness and Medical Culture

Dorothea Heitsch (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2017 | 1. Auflage
261 Seiten
Universitätsverlag Winter
978-3-8253-7682-6 (ISBN)

Infos

In this study, D. Heitsch examines fifteenth- to seventeenth-century French authors who treat writing as a process of medication and whose literary production effectively yields a therapeutic substance. Through reference to Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Ficino, and advocates of alternatives to Western medicine such as John Mesue and Leone Ebreo, these writers emphasize the material/gendered soul and the role of the body in cognitive functions, illustrating knowledge as a result of physical interaction. The study explores Hélisenne de Crenne alongside the 'pneumo-physiology' of Galen and the 'dolce stil novo', Rabelaisian anatomy together with the anti-Arabist Champier, and debates among natural philosophical poets on the transmigration of souls. The author also considers Marie de Gournay in relation to Juan Huarte's humoral theory and Jean d'Espagnet's alchemical philosophy, as well as Michel de Montaigne's interest in Jacques Dubois's Arab-influenced approaches to medicine.

Inhalt

Cover 1
Titel 4
Imprint 5
Contents 6
Acknowledgments 8
Introduction?????????????????????????????????????? 12
Methodology???????????????????????????????????? 21
Chapter Summaries???????????????????????????????????????????????? 24
Leone Ebreo’s "Dialoghi d’amore": Appeal and Reception 27
1 Medico-Philosophical Concepts in Leone Ebreo’s "Dialoghi d’amore" 36
Love and Cognition in Pico, Ficino, and Ebreo???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 38
Cognition as Copulation in the "Dialoghi d’amore" — Embodied Knowledge-Making 45
Anima Appetens – Mating Soul and Transmigration 52
Conclusion and Outlook?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 58
2 Female Love-Melancholy: Hélisenne de Crenne, Galen, and the Dolce Stil Novo 62
Love’s Cause and Its Effect on Hélisenne?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 68
Love, Melancholy, and the Imagination???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 71
Love, Melancholy, and the Dolce Stil Novo???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 77
Encountering the Other’s Gaze???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 81
Conclusion: Diagnosis, Potential Cure, and Literary Inspiration???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 85
3 Death, Resurrection, and the Anatomy of Epistemon in François Rabelais’s Pantagruel 90
Literal: Epistemon’s Death and Resurrection — The Panurgic Cure 94
Allegorical: Epistemon’s Anatomy?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 96
Tropological: Literary Context and Moral Significance???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 98
Toward an Anagogical Interpretation: A. ‘Arabist’ and ‘Anti-Arabist’ Medical Practitioners 100
Toward an Anagogical Interpretation: B. Symphorien Champier and François Rabelais?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 103
Anagogical: (Spiritual) Panacea and the Success of Panurge’s Wager?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 107
Conclusion?????????????????????????????????? 109
4 Renaissance Soul-Searching and Natural Philosophical Poetry???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 112
An Infinite Mind: Maurice Scève’s Microcosme (1562) 117
A Journey through the Cosmos (of Love): Transmigration in "L’amour des amours" (1555) 121
Ambiguous Mediators: Demons, Plants, Animals, and Philosophy in Ronsard’s "Hymnes" (1555, 1556) and “Le chat” (1569) 129
The All-Encompassing Protestant Soul in Du Bartas’s Creation (1578, 1584) 137
René Bretonnayau and the Cosmic Temple of the Soul (1583) 144
Conclusion?????????????????????????????????? 148
5 Constitution of the Female Author: From Temperament to Alchemy in the Work of Marie de Gournay 152
Temperament, Complexion, Character?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 153
Juan Huarte de San Juan and the "Examination of Men’s Wits" 156
Alchemy and Gender?????????????????????????????????????????????????? 161
Marie de Gournay as Practitioner of Alchemy???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 163
Alchemy and Writing: Transmuting Texts, Transmuting Relationships???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 167
Alchemical Images—Androgynous Souls???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 175
Conclusion: Androgynous Souls as Political Concepts???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 180
6 Evacuative Strategies in Jacques Dubois and Michel de Montaigne???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 184
Jacques Dubois (Jacobus Sylvius) and Mesue’s "Opera" 187
Medical Practice: Drugs and Purging in the "Essais" 193
Occult Force and Quintessence: The Ambiguous Nature of Rhubarb?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 199
Purging Body and Soul: Montaigne’s Embodied Cognition???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 201
Exemplum, Consilium, Observatio, Historia Montani???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 207
Conclusion: Evacuative Strategies and Spiritual Exercise?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 211
Conclusion?????????????????????????????????? 216
Literary Consciousness and Medical Culture?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 223
Bibliography?????????????????????????????????????? 228
Index Nominum???????????????????????????????????????? 262
Index Rerum???????????????????????????????????? 270
Backcover 273

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 26.7.2017
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft
• ISBN-10: 3-8253-7682-6 / 3825376826
• ISBN-13: 978-3-8253-7682-6 / 9783825376826