The afterlives of specimens : science, mourning, and Whitman's Civil War / Lindsay Tuggle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tuggle, Lindsay, author.

Series:

Iowa Whitman series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892--Knowledge and learning--Anatomy.

Whitman, Walt.

Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892.

Anatomy.

Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892--Knowledge and learning--Medicine.

Human body in literature.

Dead in literature.

Death in literature.

Dead--Social aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Dead.

Human anatomy--United States--History--19th century.

Human anatomy.

Literature and medicine--United States--History--19th century.

Literature and medicine.

Literature and science--United States--History--19th century.

Literature and science.

Dead--Social aspects.

Medicine.

History.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

pages cm.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2017]

Summary:

"The Afterlives of Specimens explores the space between science and sentiment, the historical moment when the human cadaver became both lost love object and subject of anatomical violence. Walt Whitman witnessed rapid changes in relations between the living and the dead. In the space of a few decades, dissection evolved from a posthumous punishment inflicted on criminals to an element of preservationist technology worthy of the presidential corpse of Abraham Lincoln. Whitman transitioned from a fervent opponent of medical bodysnatching to a literary celebrity who left behind instructions for his own autopsy, including the removal of his brain for scientific study. Grounded in archival discoveries, Afterlives traces the origins of nineteenth-century America's preservation compulsion, illuminating the influences of botanical, medical, spiritualist, and sentimental discourses on Whitman's work. Tuggle unveils previously unrecognized connections between Whitman and the leading "medical men" of his era, such as the surgeon John H. Brinton, founding curator of the Army Medical Museum, and Silas Weir Mitchell, the neurologist who discovered phantom limb syndrome. Remains from several amputee soldiers whom Whitman nursed in the Washington hospitals became specimens in the Army Medical Museum. Tuggle is the first scholar to analyze Whitman's role in medically memorializing the human cadaver and its abandoned parts"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Tomb Leaves: The Anatomy of Regeneration 25

2 Specimen Cases: From Hospital to Museum 61

3 Phantoms of Countless Lost: The Nostalgia of Absent Limbs 101

4 Skeleton Leaves: Embalming Elegies 131

5 Autopsy and Afterlife: Anatomical Celebrity 165.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781609385392

160938539X

OCLC:

983824370