{"title":"\"It Is No Small Presumption to Dismember the Image of God\": Early Modern Leg Amputation on the Barber-Surgeon's Table and the Dramatist's Page.","authors":"Giulia Mari","doi":"10.1353/lm.2022.0031","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Using the multiple versions of Doctor Faustus's fraudulent leg removal presented in texts A and B of Christopher Marlowe's tragedy, along with The English Faust Book (a source text for Marlowe), and examining an extensive number of early modern surgical manuals, this essay discusses leg amputation in the early modern period. As well as attempting to understand the circumstances that would cause a surgeon to proceed with such an extreme course of action, the essay also explores the operation itself, its evolution through the early modern period, the instruments used, the life prospects of an amputee in terms of mobility and prosthetics, and finally the social implications and moral responsibilities of removing a limb in the context of a society that placed great importance in the idea of corporeal integrity in the afterlife.</p>","PeriodicalId":44538,"journal":{"name":"LITERATURE AND MEDICINE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"LITERATURE AND MEDICINE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/lm.2022.0031","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Using the multiple versions of Doctor Faustus's fraudulent leg removal presented in texts A and B of Christopher Marlowe's tragedy, along with The English Faust Book (a source text for Marlowe), and examining an extensive number of early modern surgical manuals, this essay discusses leg amputation in the early modern period. As well as attempting to understand the circumstances that would cause a surgeon to proceed with such an extreme course of action, the essay also explores the operation itself, its evolution through the early modern period, the instruments used, the life prospects of an amputee in terms of mobility and prosthetics, and finally the social implications and moral responsibilities of removing a limb in the context of a society that placed great importance in the idea of corporeal integrity in the afterlife.
期刊介绍:
Literature and Medicine is a journal devoted to exploring interfaces between literary and medical knowledge and understanding. Issues of illness, health, medical science, violence, and the body are examined through literary and cultural texts. Our readership includes scholars of literature, history, and critical theory, as well as health professionals.