Contagion and the Shakespearean stage / Darryl Chalk, Mary Floyd-Wilson, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Chalk, Darryl, editor.

Floyd-Wilson, Mary, editor.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Series:

Palgrave studies in literature, science, and medicine

Palgrave studies in literature, science and medicine

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English drama--Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600--History and criticism.

English drama.

Contagion (Social psychology).

Physical Description:

xii, 292 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cham, Switzerland : This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature, [2019]

Summary:

This collection of essays considers what constituted contagion in the minds of early moderns in the absence of modern germ theory. In a wide range of essays focused on early modern drama and the culture of theater, contributors explore how ideas of contagion not only inform representations of the senses (such as smell and touch) and emotions (such as disgust, pity, and shame) but also shape how people understood belief, narrative, and political agency. Epidemic thinking was not limited to medical inquiry or the narrow study of a particular disease. Shakespeare, Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker and other early modern writers understood that someone might be infected or transformed by the presence of others, through various kinds of exchange, or if exposed to certain ideas, practices, or environmental conditions. The discourse and concept of contagion provides a lens for understanding early modern theatrical performance, dramatic plots, and theater-going itself.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9783030144272

3030144275

OCLC:

1108744949