Secret Malady: Venereal Disease in Eighteenth-Century Britain and France

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Like AIDS today, venereal disease existed in epidemical proportions in eighteenth-century Britain and France. Medical practitioners of every stripe - legitimate and otherwise - knew little but wrote volumes about its origins, symptoms, and "cures." The pathology of the disease remained elusive throughout the century despite frequent and loud debates on the topic in the press. The essays in this collection paint a portrait of the secret malady - public and private responses to the epidemic; changing attitudes ...
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Very good Hardcover 1st edition...pages are all mint and clean aside for the 1st page inscritption...dustcover is in excellent condition as is the binding...fast shipping same ... or next business day! Read more Show Less

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More About This Book

Overview

Like AIDS today, venereal disease existed in epidemical proportions in eighteenth-century Britain and France. Medical practitioners of every stripe - legitimate and otherwise - knew little but wrote volumes about its origins, symptoms, and "cures." The pathology of the disease remained elusive throughout the century despite frequent and loud debates on the topic in the press. The essays in this collection paint a portrait of the secret malady - public and private responses to the epidemic; changing attitudes toward the disease; and its role in making sex a taboo subject, in enforcing class and racial distinctions, and in raising the level of misogyny. The interdisciplinary nature of the collection makes this an important and fascinating work for scholars in several fields, including history, art, literature, the history of medicine, and women's studies.
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Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
In the 18th century, as today, venereal disease (VD) was not discussed in polite company. Yet syphilis and other diseases reached epidemic proportions and affected every level of society. This book looks closely at the historical context of VD, including its impact on society's perception of women and marriage and its effect on children. It also examines medical treatments of the period. The second half of the book reviews the social and cultural aspects of VD, e.g., Betty Rizzo's essay considers the social decorum used to discuss VD and includes some very interesting examples of society's sexual biases in its regard. Other chapters look at literary and artistic representations of VD. This is an excellent collection of essays made all the more relevant by the AIDS crisis today. However, the reader looking for a broader historical review of VD should consult J.D. Oriel's Scars of Venus (Springer-Verlag, 1994). For academic collections.Eric D. Albright, Galter Health Sciences Lib., Northwestern Univ., Chicago
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780813119892
  • Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
  • Publication date: 3/28/1997
  • Pages: 280
  • Product dimensions: 6.34 (w) x 9.30 (h) x 0.97 (d)

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction 1
1 The Pox in Eighteenth-Century France 15
2 From Courtesan to Prostitute: Mercenary Sex and Venereal Disease, 1730-1802 34
3 "Laying Aside Any Private Advantage": John Marten and Venereal Disease 51
4 Exposing the Secret Disease: Recognizing and Treating Syphilis in Daniel Turner's London 68
5 John Burrows and the Vegetable Wars 85
6 "And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse": Syphilis and Wives 103
7 The Problem of Syphilitic Children in Eighteenth-Century France and England 114
8 The London Lock Hospital and the Lock Asylum for Women 128
9 Decorums 149
10 The Meaning of Venereal Disease in Hogarth's Graphic Art 168
11 Satiric Representation of Venereal Disease: The Restoration versus the Eighteenth-Century Model 183
12 Pox and Malice: Some Representations of Venereal Disease in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Satire 196
13 Avoiding the Subject: The Presence and Absence of Venereal Disease in the Eighteenth-Century English Novel 213
14 Job's Curse and Social Degeneracy in Retif de la Bretonne's Le Paysan Perverti 228
15 Contagion and Containment: Sade and the Republic of Letters 243
Contributors 261
Index 263
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