Fictions of Disease in Early Modern England - Bodies, Plagues and Politics

How did early modern people imagine their bodies? What impact did the new disease syphilis and recurrent outbreaks of plague have on these mental landscapes? Why was the glutted belly such a potent symbol of pathology? Ranging from the Reformation through the English Civil War, this is a unique study of a cultural imaginary of "disease" and its political consequences. Healy's approach illuminates the period's disease-impregnated literature, including works by Shakespeare, Milton, Dekker, Heywood and others.