The Secrets of Generation: Reproduction in the Long Eighteenth Century

by Raymond Stephanson, Darren Wagner (Editor)

Overview

From theories of conception and concepts of species to museum displays of male genitalia and the politics of breastmilk, The Secrets of Generation is an interdisciplinary examination of the many aspects of reproduction in the eighteenth century.

Exploring the theme of generation from the perspective of histories of medicine, literature, biology, technology, and culture, this collection offers a range of cutting-edge approaches. Its twenty-four contributors, scholars from across Europe and North America, bring an international perspective to discuss reproduction in British, French, American, German, and Italian contexts.

The definitive collection on eighteenth-century generation and its many milieus, The Secrets of Generation will be an essential resource for studying this topic for years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442646964
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	10/19/2015
Pages:	584
Product dimensions:	9.31(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Raymond Stephanson is a professor emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Saskatchewan.
Darren N. Wagner is a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at McGill University. He received his doctorate in history from the University of York.

Table of Contents

Preface

Raymond Stephanson and Darren Wagner, “Introduction”

PART I: Generation, Species, Breeding

1. Staffan Müller-Wille, “Reproducing Species”

2. Ivano Dal Prete, “Cultures and Politics of Preformism in Eighteenth-Century Italy”

3. Peter Bowler, “Theories of Generation and the History of Life”

4. John C. Waller, “Born to Virtue: Ideas of Generation and the Eighteenth-Century Elites”

5. Susanne Lettow, “Improving Reproduction: Articulations of Breeding and ‘Race-Mixing’ in French and German Discourse (1750–1800)”

6. Christine Lehleiter, “New Attention to Incest and Inbreeding as Ways of Reproduction around 1800: A Case Study of the Mignon Episode in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister”

PART II: Fetus, Child, Mother

7. Sebastian Pranghofer, “Changing Views on Generation—Images of the Unborn”

8. Corinna Wagner, “The Problem of Maternal Violence: Anatomy, Forensic Medicine, and the Mind”

9. David M. Turner, “Birth Anomaly and Childhood Disability”

10. Heather Meek, “Motherhood, Hysteria, and the Eighteenth-Century Woman Writer”

11. Sonja Boon, “Mothers and Others: The Politics of Lactation in Medical Consultation Letters Addressed to Samuel-Auguste Tissot”

12. Jennifer Golightly, “Reproduction in British Women’s Novels of the 1790s”

PART III: Pathologies, Body Parts, Display

13. Sarah Toulalan, “‘Unfit for Generation’: Body Size and Reproduction”

14. Pam Lieske, “Deformity of the Maternal Pelvis in Late Eighteenth-Century Britain”

15. Sally Frampton, “The Debris of Life: Diseased Ovaries in Eighteenth-Century Medicine”

16. Lianne McTavish, “Intestinal Chaos: Tapeworms, Dead Flesh, and Reproduction during the Eighteenth Century”

17. Darren Wagner, “A Bit Exposed: Displays of Male Genitals”

PART IV Attitudes, Tropes, Satire

18. Marcia D. Nichols, “The Aristotle Texts, Sex, and the American Woman”

19. Corrinne Harol and Jessica MacQueen, “Eve’s Labours: Procreation, Reproduction, and the Politics of Generation in Paradise Lost”

20. Julie Peakman and Sarah Watkins, “Making Babies: Eighteenth-Century Attitudes Toward Conception, Reproduction and Childbirth”

21. Donald W. Nichol, “Making the Rounds in the Old & New Foundling Hospitals for Wit: (Mis)Conceptions about Conceiving”

22. George Rousseau, “Panspermist Jokes, Reproductive Technologies, and Virgin Births: Some Enlightenment Luciniades”

What People are Saying About This

Justin E.H. Smith

“The Secrets of Generation weaves together the many aspects of this broad and multifaceted topic, from sombre and serious treatises to bawdy and satirical works, while never losing sight of the basic ways in which all of the expressions of interest in generation in the long eighteenth century were interrelated, indeed part of one and the same broad historical-cultural development.”

Editorial Reviews

‘Raymond Stephanson and Darren Wagner have persuaded an extraordinarily knowledgeable and interesting set of contributors to cover a huge range of topics concerning generation and reproduction of that period…The collection is full of gems.’

—Jenny Davidson, Studies in English Literature vol 56:03:2016

‘A sprawling and wonderful collection… Stephanson and Wagner’s collection sets the standard for the next generation of reproductive scholarship.’

—Barry Reay, Canadian Journal of History vol 51:03:2016

‘This excellent new collection covers essays on how people in Europe (and North America) viewed the mysterious process of creating new life… The wide ranging essays in The Secrets of Generation answer questions you will not have even thought of.’

—Matthew Cobb, Isis vol 107:04:2016

‘This collection offers a compensating richness of suggestive connections between texts and topics not normally encountered together under the aegis of any one discipline.’

—Jan Golinski, Eighteenth Century Fiction vol 29:03:2017

‘This book will be essential reading for those interested in the history of reproduction, but any scholar working on the history of the body would do well to consult within its pages.’

—Karen Harvey, Bulletin of the History of Medicine – vol 91:2017

“The Secrets of Generation weaves together the many aspects of this broad and multifaceted topic, from sombre and serious treatises to bawdy and satirical works, while never losing sight of the basic ways in which all of the expressions of interest in generation in the long eighteenth century were interrelated, indeed part of one and the same broad historical-cultural development.”

—Justin E.H. Smith, Department of History and Philosophy of the Sciences, Université Paris Diderot - Paris VII

From the Publisher

'This collection offers a compensating richness of suggestive connections between texts and topics not normally encountered together under the aegis of any one discipline.'

Eighteenth Century Fiction vol 29:03:2017 - Jan Golinski

'Raymond Stephanson and Darren Wagner have persuaded an extraordinarily knowledgeable and interesting set of contributors to cover a huge range of topics concerning generation and reproduction of that period...The collection is full of gems.'

Studies in English Literature vol 56:03:2016 - Jenny Davidson

'This excellent new collection covers essays on how people in Europe (and North America) viewed the mysterious process of creating new life... The wide ranging essays in The Secrets of Generation answer questions you will not have even thought of.'

Isis vol 107:04:2016 - Matthew Cobb

'This book will be essential reading for those interested in the history of reproduction, but any scholar working on the history of the body would do well to consult within its pages.'

Bulletin of the History of Medicine — vol 91:2017 - Karen Harvey

'A sprawling and wonderful collection... Stephanson and Wagner's collection sets the standard for the next generation of reproductive scholarship.'

Canadian Journal of History vol 51:03:2016 - Barry Reay

'Raymond Stephanson and Darren Wagner have persuaded an extraordinarily knowledgeable and interesting set of contributors to cover a huge range of topics concerning generation and reproduction of that period...The collection is full of gems.'

Studies in English Literature vol 56:03:2016 - Jenny Davidson