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book: Dismemberment in the Medieval and Early Modern English Imaginary
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Dismemberment in the Medieval and Early Modern English Imaginary

The Performance of Difference
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2021

About this book

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The medieval and early modern English imaginary encompasses a broad range of negative and positive dismemberments, from the castration anxieties of Turk plays to the elite practices of distributive burial. This study argues that representations and instances of bodily fragmentation illustrated and performed acts of exclusion and inclusion, detaching not only limbs from bodies but individuals from identity groups. Within this context it examines questions of legitimate and illegitimate violence, showing that such distinctions largely rested upon particular acts’ assumed symbolic meanings. Specific chapters address ways dismemberments manifested gender, human versus animal nature, religious and ethnic identity, and social rank. The book concludes by examining the afterlives of body parts, including relics and specimens exhibited for entertainment and education, contextualized by discussion of the resurrection body and its promise of bodily reintegration. Grounded in dramatic works, the study also incorporates a variety of genres from midwifery manuals to broadside ballads.

Author / Editor information

Frederika Elizabeth Bain, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, USA.

Reviews

"Overall, this book presents a wealth of materials concerned with dismemberment in the widest possible sense. Bain is extremely knowledgeable concerning the pertinent sources and examples from a wide variety of texts. This will make the book an invaluable resource for scholars, mostly of literature, in search of references for a specific kind of dismemberment or a specific text." Nicole Nyffenegger in: The Medieval Review, 23.05.22

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    I
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    Acknowledgements

    V
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  • Publicly Available

    Contents

    IX
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    Introduction: Attending to Bodies

    1
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    Chapter 1: The Symbolic Body and the Performance of Dismemberment

    19
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    Chapter 2: Gendered Dismemberments

    63
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    Chapter 3: Animals of Dismemberment

    127
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    Chapter 4: The Anguish of the Dismemberer: Executioners and Others

    185
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    Chapter 5: Coda: After Dismemberment

    221
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    Bibliography

    247
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    Index

    269
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
November 23, 2020
eBook ISBN:
9781501513237
Hardcover published on:
November 23, 2020
Hardcover ISBN:
9781501517860
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
10
Main content:
303
Coloured Illustrations:
1
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This book is in the series
Late Tudor and Stuart Drama
This book is in the series
Late Tudor and Stuart Drama
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501513237
eBook ISBN: 9781501513237
Hardcover ISBN: 9781501517860
Keywords for this book
Dismemberment; Embodiement; Body; Punition; Execution; Performance
Audience(s) for this book
Medievalists, scholars of Theatre and Literary Studies
Safety & product resources
Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com
Downloaded on 25.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781501513237/html?lang=en
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