The indistinct human in Renaissance literature / edited by Jean E. Feerick and Vin Nardizzi.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Feerick, Jean E. (Jean Elizabeth)

Nardizzi, Vincent Joseph, 1978-

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Early modern cultural studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism.

English literature.

Human body in literature.

Renaissance--England.

Renaissance.

England.

Physical Description:

vi, 292 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Summary:

"This volume argues for the necessaity of a re-articulation of the differences that separated man from other forms of life. Building on the increased attention paid in recent criticism to both plant and animal life in the Renaissance, as well as the instability of categories such as "human" and "animal," the essays in this collection argue for recognition of the persistently indistinct nature of humans, who cannot be finally divided ontologically or epistemologically from other forms of matter"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I The Head-Piece

1 The Eight Animals in Shakespeare; or, Before the Human / Laurie Shannon Shannon, Laurie 15

Part II Modes of Indistinction

Crossings

2 "Half-Fish, Half-Flesh": Dolphins, the Ocean, and Early Modern Humans / Steve Mentz Mentz, Steve 29

3 Royal Fish: Shakespeare's Princely Whales / Dan Brayton Brayton, Dan 47

Bodily Ingestion

4 You Are What You Eat: Cooking and Writing Across the Species Barrier in Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair / Jay Zysk Zysk, Jay 69

5 "A Bett'ring of Nature": Grafting and Embryonic Development in The Duchess of Malfi / Erin Ellerbeck Ellerbeck, Erin 85

Technologies of Conjunction

6 Bastard Grafts, Crafted Fruits: Shakespeare's Planted Families / Miranda Wilson Wilson, Miranda 103

7 The Wooden Matter of Human Bodies: Prosthesis and Stump in A Larum for London / Vin Nardizzi Nardizzi, Vin 119

III Indistinct Bodies

(Un)Sexed Bodies

8 Vegetable Love: Botany and Sexuality in Seventeenth-Century England / Marjorie Swann Swann, Marjorie 139

9 On Vegetating Virgins: Greensickness and the Plant Realm in Early Modern Literature / Hillary M. Nunn159 Nunn159, Hillary M.

Stony States

10 A Heart of Stone: The Ungodly in Early Modern England / Tiffany Jo Werth Werth, Tiffany Jo 181

11 Of Stones and Stony Hearts: Desdemona, Hermione, and Post-Reformation Theater / Jennifer Waldron Waldron, Jennifer 205

Soiled Bodies

12 Groveling with Earth in Kyd and Shakespeare's Historical Tragedies / Jean E. Feerick Feerick, Jean E. 231

13 The Politic Worm: Invertebrate Life in the Early Modern English Body / Ian MacInnes MacInnes, Ian 253.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230340473

0230340474

OCLC:

744287254