Psychosomatic Disorders in Seventeenth-Century French Literature

Rezensionen / Stimmen

'Professor HA?fer's new book represents an excellent piece of scholarship that is innovative, incisive, and very well written. The blending of scientific, philosophical, and literary perspectives is truly interdisciplinary in its approach and yields a great number of original interpretations essential to understanding key early modern French texts. Similarly, the agility with which the author moves from early modern to modern and contemporary thought is another sterling feature of her research. Without question, Professor HA?fer is to be commended on such an ambitious and valuable project.' Russell Ganim, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA '... this ambitious book is a thought-provoking and long-overdue consideration of the Cartesian mind-body split and seventeenth-century literary reactions. Despite our modern recognition that Descartes split the mind and body, there has been relatively little discussion of what that actually meant for people's understanding of the body in the seventeenth century. As HA?fer shows, Descartes' philosophy was not straightforward, even to himself, and there were many competing ideas about the mind-body relationship. This book will contribute significantly to scholarship on the history of the body, which has long neglected to explore subjective bodily experience.' British Society for Literature and Science 'HA?fer's book will certainly provide nourishment for those who share her interests. One closes it with unstinting admiration for the (almost) invisible translator.' French Studies 'This is an exceptionally rich and well-researched study that crosses generic boundaries in an enlightening and convincing way. It will be an important point of reference for historians of medicine, culture, literature and philosophy.' Social History of Medicine