Additional information
by Virginia Langum (Author)
Table of Contents
MEDICINE, SIN AND LANGUAGE
Medicine as Metaphor
Medicine as Metonymy
Medicine as Material
Metaphor as Medicine
PRIDE
Metaphorical Pride
Metonymic Pride
Material Pride
ENVY
Metaphorical Envy
Metonymic Envy
Material Envy
WRATHMetaphorical Wrath
Metonymic Wrath
Material Wrath
AVARICE
Metaphorical Avarice
Metonymic Avarice
Material Avarice
SLOTH
Metaphorical Sloth
Metonymic Sloth
Material Sloth
GLUTTONY
Metaphorical Gluttony
Metonymic Gluttony
Material Gluttony
LECHERY
Metaphorical Lechery
Metonymic Lechery
Material Lechery
CONCLUSION
NOTES
Back Jacket
This book considers how scientists, theologians, priests, and poets approached the relationship of the human body and ethics in the later Middle Ages. Is medicine merely a metaphor for sin? Or can certain kinds of bodies physiologically dispose people to be angry, sad, or greedy? If so, then is it their fault? Virginia Langum offers an account of the medical imagery used to describe feelings and actions in religious and literary contexts, referencing a variety of behavioral discussions within medical contexts. The study draws upon medical and theological writing for its philosophical basis, and upon more popular works of religion, as well as poetry, to show how these themes were articulated, explored, and questioned more widely in medieval culture.
Author Biography
Virginia Langum is Associate Professor of English at Umeå University, Sweden and Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. She recently edited Words and Matter: The Virgin Mary in Late Medieval and Early Modern Parish Life.
