Special Issue of the Journal 'Shakespeare': Health and Wellbeing in Shakespeare
Health and Wellbeing in Shakespeare (Special Issue of the journal Shakespeare)
Guest editor: Joan Fitzpatrick (Loughborough University, UK)
Length of submissions: 6,000 – 9,000 words
Deadline for abstracts (200 - 250 words): March 31, 2023
Deadline for final copy submission: September 29, 2023
contact email: j.fitzpatrick@lboro.ac.uk
The early modern interest in physical and psychological health and the ramifications of illness is everywhere apparent in Shakespeare’s writings. Throughout his plays and poems, Shakespeare explores the origins and effects of disruptions to physical and psychological wellbeing. Both literally and metaphorically, Shakespeare’s writing considers those aspects of human health and wellbeing about which his audiences and readers were so curious. We understand more clearly than our ancestors the workings of the human body but its response to some diseases continues to elude us (not least previously unknown viruses), and to a large extent the workings of our minds remain mysterious. Health Humanities is a growing field of literary studies, yet an interest in health and wellbeing is not new: early modern people were fascinated by the workings of the body and mind and how this impacted upon health and wellbeing. Although they differed from us in their understanding of how the body and mind worked, not least in adhering to medieval humoral theory, early modern people were, in some ways, remarkably similar to us in their belief in the importance of clean air, sound sleep, a good diet, and regular exercise. We share our early modern predecessors' concerns regarding physical and mental frailty and, of course, we too face the inevitability of death. Shakespeare understood these existentialist preoccupations and this special issue will consider the the various ways in which his plays and poems present and explore them.
This special issue of the journal Shakespeare invites submissions on on all aspects of health and wellbeing in Shakespeare’s works. Contributors are encouraged to consider physical and psychological health and the various impediments that hinder a healthy body and mind, including disease, injury, and trauma. No particular theoretical approaches are preferred, and work that is empirical and historical is as welcome as reconceptualizations of what we and/or the early moderns understand by the terms 'health', 'wellbeing', 'medicine', 'intervention', and the realms of the body and mind. Materials considered might include plays, poems, discursive prose writings from the period, theatrical performances, and screen adaptations.
Possible areas of interest include:
The representation of medical expertise and practice in the plays
The physical and moral implications of food and diet
The role of dirt and hygiene in physical health
Explicit and implicit invocations of humoral theory
The social, moral, and physiological aspects of disease and/or death
The impact of sleep disruption (including dreams) and/or physical exhaustion upon health and wellbeing
Social distancing and early modern theatre closure
The impact of climate and the weather on physical and/or mental health
Ill health or disability as personal and/or social failure
Living with the consequences of physical violence
The social circumstances and moral implications of obesity and/or famine
The role of the five senses on physical and/or mental health
Therapy as a means to cure the disturbed mind
Infection by smell and/or by sight.
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Health and Wellbeing in Shakespeare (Special Issue of 'Shakespeare')
deadline for submissions: August 30, 2024
full name / name of organization: Joan Fitzpatrick / Loughborough University, UK
contact email: j.fitzpatrick@lboro.ac.uk
The early modern interest in physical and psychological health and the ramifications of illness is everywhere apparent in Shakespeare’s writings. Throughout his plays and poems, Shakespeare explores the origins and effects of disruptions to physical and psychological wellbeing. Both literally and metaphorically, Shakespeare’s writing considers those aspects of human health and wellbeing about which his audiences and readers were so curious. We understand more clearly than our ancestors the workings of the human body but its response to some diseases continues to elude us (not least previously unknown viruses), and to a large extent the workings of our minds remain mysterious. Health Humanities is a growing field of literary studies, yet an interest in health and wellbeing is not new: early modern people were fascinated by the workings of the body and mind and how this impacted upon health and wellbeing. Although they differed from us in their understanding of how the body and mind worked, not least in adhering to medieval humoral theory, early modern people were, in some ways, remarkably similar to us in their belief in the importance of clean air, sound sleep, a good diet, and regular exercise. We share our early modern predecessors' concerns regarding physical and mental frailty and, of course, we too face the inevitability of death. Shakespeare understood these existentialist preoccupations and this special issue will consider the the various ways in which his plays and poems present and explore them.
This special issue of the journal Shakespeare invites submissions on on all aspects of health and wellbeing in Shakespeare’s works. Contributors are encouraged to consider physical and psychological health and the various impediments that hinder a healthy body and mind, including disease, injury, and trauma. No particular theoretical approaches are preferred, and work that is empirical and historical is as welcome as reconceptualizations of what we and/or the early moderns understand by the terms 'health', 'wellbeing', 'medicine', 'intervention', and the realms of the body and mind. Materials considered might include plays, poems, discursive prose writings from the period, theatrical performances, and screen adaptations.
Possible areas of interest include:
The representation of medical expertise and practice in the plays
The physical and moral implications of food and diet
The role of dirt and hygiene in physical health
Explicit and implicit invocations of humoral theory
The social, moral, and physiological aspects of disease and/or death
The impact of sleep disruption (including dreams) and/or physical exhaustion upon health and wellbeing
Social distancing and early modern theatre closure
The impact of climate and the weather on physical and/or mental health
Ill health or disability as personal and/or social failure
Living with the consequences of physical violence
The social circumstances and moral implications of obesity and/or famine
The role of the five senses on physical and/or mental health
Therapy as a means to cure the disturbed mind
Infection by smell and/or by sight.
Guest editor: Joan Fitzpatrick (Loughborough University, UK)
Length of submissions: 6,000 – 9,000 words
Deadline for abstracts (200 - 250 words): March 31, 2023
Deadline for final copy submission: September 29, 2023