Middle English Mouths: Late Medieval Medical, Religious and Literary Traditions

The mouth was of immediate importance to medieval thinking about the nature of the human being, and Katie L. Walter argues for the recuperation of its material, everyday aspect. Her original study draws on two rich archives, challenging critical orthodoxies about the centrality of sight, the hierarchy of the senses, and the separation of religious from medical discourses.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 272 pages
\n Publication date: 01 April 2021
\n Publisher: Cambridge University Press
\n

The mouth, a multifaceted organ responsible for essential physical and spiritual activities such as eating, drinking, breathing, praying, and confessing, held immense significance in medieval thought regarding the nature of the human being. While scholars have traditionally concentrated on the mouth's grotesque excesses, Katie L. Walter advocates for the recovery of its material, everyday aspect. Drawing upon two rich archives, one encompassing Middle English theology and pastoral writings, and the other encompassing medical and surgical materials, including learned encyclopedias, vernacular translations, and treatises, Walter's original study challenges several critical orthodoxies about the centrality of sight, the hierarchy of the senses, and the separation of religious from medical discourses. Through her meticulous analysis, the book unveils the profound importance of the mouth, taste, and touch in human modes of knowing and in shaping Christian identity.

The mouth, a multifaceted organ responsible for essential physical and spiritual activities such as eating, drinking, breathing, praying, and confessing, held immense significance in medieval thought regarding the nature of the human being. While scholars have traditionally concentrated on the mouth's grotesque excesses, Katie L. Walter advocates for the recovery of its material, everyday aspect. Drawing upon two rich archives, one encompassing Middle English theology and pastoral writings, and the other encompassing medical and surgical materials, including learned encyclopedias, vernacular translations, and treatises, Walter's original study challenges several critical orthodoxies about the centrality of sight, the hierarchy of the senses, and the separation of religious from medical discourses. Through her meticulous analysis, the book unveils the profound importance of the mouth, taste, and touch in human modes of knowing and in shaping Christian identity.

\n Weight: 410g\n
Dimension: 151 x 228 x 22 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781108445290\n \n