Robert Burton's rhetoric an anatomy of early modern knowledge
Published in five editions between 1621 and 1651, The Anatomy of Melancholy marks a unique moment in the development of disciplines, when fields of knowledge were distinct but not yet restrictive. In Robert Burton's Rhetoric, Susan Wells analyzes the Anatomy, demonstrating how its early modern...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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University Park, Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania State University Press
[2019], 2019
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| Series: | The RSA series in transdisciplinary rhetoric
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| Online Access: | |
| Collection: | JSTOR Books - Collection details see MPG.ReNa |
| Summary: | Published in five editions between 1621 and 1651, The Anatomy of Melancholy marks a unique moment in the development of disciplines, when fields of knowledge were distinct but not yet restrictive. In Robert Burton's Rhetoric, Susan Wells analyzes the Anatomy, demonstrating how its early modern practices of knowledge and persuasion can offer a model for transdisciplinary scholarship today. In the first decades of the seventeenth century, Robert Burton attempted to gather all the existing knowledge about melancholy, drawing from professional discourses including theology, medicine, and philology as well as the emerging sciences. Examining this text through a rhetorical lens, Wells provides an account of these disciplinary exchanges in all their subtle variety and abundant wit, showing that questions of how knowledge is organized and how it is made persuasive are central to rhetorical theory. Ultimately, Wells argues that in addition to a book about melancholy, Burton's Anatomy is a meditation on knowledge. A fresh interpretation of The Anatomy of Melancholy, this volume will be welcomed by scholars of early modern English and the rhetorics of health and medicine, as well as those interested in transdisciplinary work and rhetorical theory |
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| Physical Description: | xii, 211 pages illustrations |
| ISBN: | 0271085509 0271085487 9780271085500 9780271085487 |