Anatomical forms : the science of the body in early modern women's poetry / Whitney Sperrazza.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sperrazza, Whitney, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Alembics

Alembics: Penn studies in literature and science

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English poetry.

English poetry--Women authors--History and criticism.

Human anatomy in literature.

Human body in literature.

Literature and science.

Poetics.

English poetry--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

308 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2025]

Summary:

"This book explores how women writers, who have long been marginal to histories of literature and science, wielded poetics as a tool for scientific work. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, anatomists were actively exploring the best ways to represent bodies in texts-to translate the work of the dissection room into the pages of books. When we recognize Renaissance anatomy as fundamentally a book-making project, Sperrazza insists, we find an expansive history of anatomy in the pages of women's poetry. Reading early modern anatomy treatises alongside the work of Margaret Cavendish, Hester Pulter, and others, Sperrazza uncovers complex engagements with topics ranging from corpse preservation and dissection to obstetrics and gynecology. Weaving together critical conversations in poetics, book history, the history of science, and women's writing, this book challenges readers to imagine science differently, and in the process, brings into focus a feminist history of poetic form centered on material practice"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781512827590

1512827592

OCLC:

1446795508

Publisher Number:

90102342306

CIPO000229074