Blood Matters: Studies in European Literature and Thought, 1400–1700 ed. by Bonnie Lander Johnson and Eleanor Decamp

Abstract

Reviewed by: Blood Matters: Studies in European Literature and Thought, 1400–1700 ed. by Bonnie Lander Johnson and Eleanor Decamp Catrien Santing Bonnie Lander Johnson and Eleanor Decamp, eds. Blood Matters: Studies in European Literature and Thought, 1400–1700. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018. x + 354 pp. $89.95 (978-0-8122-5021-3). The editors of this book brought in heavy artillery by stating in their introduction that their book was "designed to recognize blood as a distinct category of inquiry" (p. 2). This immediately raises the question of what "interdisciplinarity" and a "full conversation" between disciplines and their scholars may or may not entail. The content of the book looks promising as it indeed lists a vast array of "bloody" topics ranging from religion, medicine, theater, philosophy, pedagogy, political science, jurisdiction, and alchemy to literature, wine making, and cooking. On the whole, it can be concluded that the contributors did a good job in achieving a wide-ranging assessment of the importance of blood as both a symbolic liquid and mammalian matter. Two minor objections could be made regarding the composition of this collection: Despite the fact that the subtitle is Studies in European Literature and Thought, 1400–1700, its composition is rather "British" and its authors preponderantly have a literary background. In particular, the addition of some art-historical explorations would have produced a better fleshed-out blood examination. [End Page 456] Nonetheless, the editors have given careful thought to the coherence and structure of their volume. The sections "Circulation," "Wounds," "Corruption," "Proof," and "Signs and Substance" work well, especially since they succeed in following the contemporary views on blood, including its conceptual and semiotic vocabularies. Surprising as much as revealing interrelations are everywhere, certainly if the reader makes the effort of reading the contributions in the order in which they are presented. The section on circularity that treats Harvey, Catherine of Siena, and Dante as well as Shakespeare's ideas on the course of blood flow convinces the reader of the attractiveness of rotational metaphors that brought about Harvey's discovery, instead of the heralding of a new era or the deposing of the heart. In all probability readers of the Bulletin of the History of Medicine will first reach for the reliable and informative articles by Margaret Healey: "Was the Heart 'Dethroned'? Harvey's Discoveries and the Politics of Blood, Heart, and Circulation"; Gabriella Zuccolin and Helen King: "Rethinking Nosebleeds: Gendering Spontaneous Bleedings in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine"; Tara Nummedal: "Corruption, Generation and the Problem of Menstrua in Early Modern Alchemy," and Eleanor Decamp: "'In Such Abundance . . . That It Fill a Bason.' Early Modern Bleeding Bowls." All of them are well-known authors in medical historical circles who have published on the topic elsewhere. They certainly live up to their reputations here. A rewarding exception to my comment about the (relative) lack of art-historical contributions is Dolly Joergensen's piece on late medieval representations of pig slaughter: "Blood on the Butcher's Knife: Images of Pig Slaughter in Late Medieval Calendars." It is part of the most thought-provoking section of Blood Matters, called "Signs and Substances," in which the thesis of blood as a distinct category is best challenged but, in my view, also somewhat overstretched. Joergensen's subject matter is pleasantly down-to-earth after several interesting analyses of bloodstains in Shakespeare's plays. Her exploration of how and why the depiction of pig slaughter changed in late medieval prayer books, whereby the month of December is usually adorned, is presented in a clear and exciting way. We even read about the production of blood pudding and blood sausage, which were considered healthy and wholesome treats at the time. It was the pig slaughtering itself, however, that led me to consider the limits of interdisciplinarity and the cross-matching of different discourses. Although the cut-open pigs are indeed represented in lavishly illustrated breviaries, I would be more tentative in interpreting them as religiously as Joergensen does. Together with chickens, pigs were the most popular animals to eat because they were easy and cheap to breed, taking care of themselves by wandering in the forest and eating acorns. The portrayal...