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The Incorruptible Flesh

The Incorruptible Flesh

The Incorruptible Flesh

Bodily Mutation and Mortification in Religion and Folklore
Piero Camporesi
Tania Croft-Murray
February 2009
Paperback
9780521108829

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$35.00
USD
Paperback

    What significance did the body have for the obsessively religious, superstitious, yet materially bound minds of the pre-industrial age? The human body was a constant prey to disease, plague, unhealthy living conditions, the evil effects of druggery and nutritional deficiency, yet the saints seemed to testify to the existence of life beyond this, to a tangible Garden of Eden where all suffering was reversed. The right to entry to this haven was also seen in corporeal terms. The practice of abstemiousness, self-inflicted torture, even the courting of humiliation could trigger visions of beatitude, of the longed-for paradise. In this extraordinary and often astounding book, Professor Camporesi traces these experiences back to various documents across the centuries and explores the juxtaposition of medicine and sorcery, cookery and surgery, pharmacy and alchemy. He opens the window on a fascinating and colourful, if at times violent, world: of levitating and gyrating saints, gardens full of candied fruits and crystalline fountains, amazing exorcisms and arcane medical practices.

    Product details

    February 2009
    Paperback
    9780521108829
    300 pages
    229 × 152 × 17 mm
    0.4kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • Foreword
    • Translators Notes
    • Part I:
    • 1. The 'prodigious manna'
    • 2. The 'impassible' saint
    • 3. The dust of Death
    • 4. Superhuman and heavenly life
    • Part II:
    • 5. Decay and rebirth
    • 6. Entomata
    • 7. Hypercatharsis
    • 8. The 'clock of health'. Bertoldo changes diet and dies
    • Part II:
    • 9. Food for heroes
    • 10. 'Cock's broth'. The cook and the exorcist
    • 11. 'Everlasting perfumers'
    • 12. Forbidden games
    • Part IV:
    • 13. The 'flesh of God'
    • 14. 'Paradisus voluptatis'
    • 15. Food sanctuaries
    • 16. The 'plagues of Africa'. 'Darkness over Egypt'
    • Index.
      Author
    • Piero Camporesi
    • Translator
    • Tania Croft-Murray