Discoveries of our body

Plots like The History of the Body may confuse our reader, but for French historians this is a long-explored and familiar territory of research. Obligatory angles here are the history of medicine and hygiene, the perception of smells, the body and clothing, pain, the psychology of emotions, the world of feelings, gastronomy, as well as the image of the body in literature and art. It is not surprising that such a vast subject required several volumes.

In the preface to the publication, the editors insistently emphasize that it is not so much about the human body as a natural phenomenon, but about its cultural model. So, if in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries the cosmogonic model dominated, in which “cosmic forces control desires, the balance of bodily fluids and flesh”, then starting from the XNUMXth century, with the reign of rationalist philosophy, the body loses its magical halo. His work began to be considered by analogy with mechanisms: clocks, pumps, fountains. In general, both beliefs and ideas about the bodily structure fall into the scope of analysis, as well as norms regulating habits, sex and erotic behavior, clothing, body care, age prescriptions, the art of reading bodily signs …

These are amazingly fascinating stories: you quietly start flipping pages with passion, lingering for a long time on the most expressive stories (I, for example, was very interested in the sections on monsters and the flying gait). By the way, the emotional reaction of the reader is probably also evidence from the “history of the body”. When I read about the “anatomized horseman” of Dr. Honore Fragonard, I involuntarily noticed that my pulse quickened. No wonder, because this rider – or rather, the skeleton of a horse and the skeleton of a horseman, covered with leather – according to contemporaries, made such a frightening impression that he was nicknamed the “Horseman of the Apocalypse.” And what can we say about the “ecorche” popular in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries – anatomical models with torn skin: their creators deliberately placed the anatomical figures in such poses as if they were “kindly” demonstrating the results of the autopsy to the viewer. This was supposed to socialize the anatomy, remove the halo of “savagery” and reduce the viewer’s sense of anxiety.

When you read, you stop perceiving a number of things related to the body as a given, as familiar and therefore unconditional axioms. I would like to understand: when exactly did this approach appear, what is it connected with? And here the most unexpected discoveries can await the reader. But everyone has to make them himself.