Narrating Medicine in Middle English Poetry

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Narrating Medicine in Middle English Poetry

Poets, Practitioners, and the Plague

Theatre studies Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval Literary studies: poetry and poets

Author: Eve Salisbury

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Language: English

Published by: Bloomsbury Academic

Published on: 11th August 2022

Format: LCP-protected ePub

Size: 240 pages

ISBN: 9781350249813


Exploring medical writing in England in the 100+ years after the advent of the “Great Mortality”

This book examines the storytelling practices of poets, patients, and physicians in the midst of a medieval public health crisis and demonstrates how literary narratives enable us to see a kinship between poetry and the healing arts.

Looking at how we can learn to diagnose a text as if we were diagnosing a body, Salisbury provides new insights into how we can recuperate the voices of those afflicted by illness in medieval texts when we have no direct testimony.

She considers how we interpret stories told by patients in narratives mediated by others, ways that women factor into the shaping of a medical canon, how medical writing intersects with religious belief and memorial practices governed by the Church, and ways that regimens of health benefit a population in the throes of an epidemic.

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