The Reproductive Unconscious in Late Medieval and Early Modern England

Auteur

Jennifer Wynne Hellwarth

Texte du rabat

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Résumé
Drawing together social and medical history and literary studies, The Reproductive Unconscious in Late Medieval and Early Modern England studies the social practices and metaphorical representations of childbirth in medieval and early modern texts and argues for the existence of a reproductive unconscious. Discussing midwifery treatises, obstetrical and gynecological manuals, and devotional texts written for or by women, the author illustrates the ways in which medieval and early modern men and women negotiated a conflict between the ideological and material need of the culture for them to procreate, and an ideological injunction that they remain virginal and non-procreative.

Contenu

Preface
Introduction: Literacy, Ritual, and the Reproductive Unconscious
1 I wyl wright of women prevy sekenes: Female Textual and Birth Communities and the History of Women's Medical Texts
2 Theologized Maternity in Julian of Norwich's Book of Showings
3 A Very Maternal Mysticism: Images of Childbirth and its Rituals in The Book of Margery Kempe
4 with grievous groanes & deepe sighes: Female Textual and Birth Communities in the The Monument of Matrones
Figures
Bibliography
Index