Writing as Medication in Early Modern France - Literary Consciousness and Medical Culture

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.

Summary

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.

Product details

• Authors: Dorothea Heitsch
• Publisher: Universitätsverlag Winter
• Languages: English, German
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.08.2017
• EAN: 9783825367145
• ISBN: 978-3-8253-6714-5
• No. of pages: 261
• Dimensions: 171 mm x 249 mm x 20 mm
• Weight: 598 g
• Illustrations: 1 Abbildung
• Series: Regensburger Beiträge zur Gender-Forschung; Regensburger Beiträge zur Gender-Forschung; Regensburg Studies in Gender and Culture; Regensburger Beiträge zur Gender-Forschung / Regensburg Studies in Gender and Culture
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Romance linguistics / literary studies; Philosophie, Humor, Alchemie, Renaissance, Seele, Französisch, Französische Literatur, Melancholie, Montaigne, Michel de, Gender Studies, Leiblichkeit, Therapeutisches Schreiben, Sinneserfahrungen, Medical Humanities, Rabelais, Francois, weibliche Autorschaft, Abrabanel, Jehuda, Gournay, Marie de, Crenne, Hélisienne de, Dolce Stil Novo, Ebreo, Leone