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The Ovary of Eve
The Ovary of Eve is a rich and often hilarious account of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century efforts to understand conception. In these early years of the Scientific Revolution, the most intelligent men and women of the day struggled to come to terms with the origins of new life, and one theory—preformation—sparked an intensely heated debate that continued for over a hundred years. Clara Pinto-Correia traces the history of this much maligned theory through the cultural capitals of Europe. "The most wonderfully eye-opening, or imagination-opening book, as amusing as it is instructive."—Mary Warnock, London Observer "[A] fascinating and often humorous study of a reproductive theory that...
Fear, Wonder, and Science in the New Age of Reproductive Biotechnology
How does one make decisions today about in vitro fertilization, abortion, egg freezing, surrogacy, and other matters of reproduction? This book provides the intellectual and emotional intelligence to help individuals make informed choices amid misinformation and competing claims. Scott Gilbert and Clara Pinto-Correia speak to the couple trying to become pregnant, the woman contemplating an abortion, and the student searching for sound information about human sex and reproduction. Their book is an enlightening read for men as well as for women, describing in clear terms how babies come into existence through both natural and assisted reproductive pathways. They update “the talk” for the t...
Return of the Crazy Bird
Using the history of the concept of extinction with the dodo as a case study, Pinto-Correia carefully weaves together story fragments to give a cohesive eye-opening view of 17th century exploration and the grave ramifications it had for the survival and extinction of many species. More importantly, she shows us the intellectual underpinnings of the old view that it was acceptable for some animals to die out. Within this narrative, we can see what the modern view of the dodo tells us about the history of our changing understanding and valuation of nature and our place in it. Strong writing, powered by lively historical anecdotes and sober insights into human behavior, makes this beautifully illustrated book a page-turner to the end.
Pregnant Fictions
Pregnant Fictions explores the complex role of pregnancy in early-modern tale-telling and considers how stories of childbirth were used to rethink gendered "truths" at a key moment in the history of ideas. How male medical authorities and female literary authors struggled to describe the inner workings of the unseen--and competed to shape public understanding of it--is the focus of this engaging work by Holly Tucker. In illuminating the gender politics underlying dramatic changes in reproductive theory and practice, Tucker shows just how tenuous the boundaries of scientific "fact" and marvelous fictions were in early-modern France. On the literary front, Tucker argues, women used the fairy tale to rethink the biology of childbirth and the sociopolitical uses to which it had been put. She shows that in references to midwives, infertility, sex selection, and embryological theories, fairy-tale writers experimented with alternative ways of understanding pregnancy. In so doing they suggested new ways in which to envision women, knowledge, and power in both the public and the private spheres.
The Mother in/and French Literature
The essays in this volume investigate maternity and the figure of the mother in French literature from France, Switzerland, Quebec and Africa, from the seventeenth century to the present. Drawing on cultural history, psychoanalysis, and feminist theory, as well as more traditional methods, they present maternity as a source of frustration and of joy, mothers as repressed and revered, daughters as wounded and loving, sons as domineering and dependent. Indeed, few things are simple where mothers — and especially where writing about mothers — are concerned.
The Prince’s Body
Defining the proper female body, seeking elective surgery for beauty, enjoying lavish spa treatments, and combating impotence might seem like today’s celebrity infatuations. However, these preoccupations were very much alive in the early modern period. Valeria Finucci recounts the story of a well-known patron of arts and music in Renaissance Italy, Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua (1562–1612), to examine the culture, fears, and captivations of his times. Using four notorious moments in Vincenzo’s life, Finucci explores changing concepts of sexuality, reproduction, beauty, and aging. The first was Vincenzo’s inability to consummate his earliest marriage and subsequent medical inquiry, ...
The Cleft
Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, invites us to imagine a mythical society free from sexual intrigue, free from jealousy, free from petty rivalries: a society free from men.
Darwin's Coat-tails
We all know that Darwin's theory played a vital role in genetic engineering. This book explores the social origins, showing people how metaphorically sat upon "coat-tails" to further their own campaigns, who in the end try to justify everything starting from capilatism right down to the World War II. This book provides essays that will enhance our knowledge about the way we look at genetic engineering.
Lost
Oh joy, oh rapture : describing the nineteenth-century miscarriage -- Enveloped in mystery : pregnancy and miscarriage in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries -- Before its due time : setting standards in miscarriage, 1830-1860s -- Dr. Taylor went up in the uterus : miscarriage treatment and intrusive interventions, 1860-1900 -- The body in the clot : medical interest in miscarried tissues, 1870-1912
The Lady Anatomist
Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714-74), a woman artist and scientist, surmounted meager origins and limited formal education to become one of the most acclaimed anatomical sculptors of the Enlightenment. The Lady Anatomist tells the story of her arresting life and times, in light of the intertwined histories of science, gender, and art that complicated her rise to fame in the eighteenth century. Examining the details of Morandi’s remarkable life, Rebecca Messbarger traces her intellectual trajectory from provincial artist to internationally renowned anatomical wax modeler for the University of Bologna’s famous medical school. Placing Morandi’s work within its cultural and historical context, as well as in line with the Italian tradition of anatomical studies and design, Messbarger uncovers the messages contained within Morandi’s wax inscriptions, part complex theories of the body and part poetry. Widely appealing to those with an interest in the tangled histories of art and the body, and including lavish, full-color reproductions of Morandi’s work, The Lady Anatomist is a sophisticated biography of a true visionary.
