Manchester University Press Rhinoplasty and the Nose in Early Modern British Medicine and Culture: 25 (Social Histories of Medicine)

This book explores experiences with and responses to the surgical reconstruction of the nose in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain, examining the concerns and possibilities raised by the idea of nose transplants in this period. Challenging histories of plastic surgery that posit a complete disappearance of pioneering Italian plastic surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzis reconstructive operation after his death in 1599, the book traces the actual extent of this knowledge within the medical community in order to uncover why such a procedure was anathema to early modern British culture. Medical knowledge of Tagliacozzis grafting technique was overtaken by a spurious story that the transplanted nose would be constructed from flesh purchased from a social inferior that dropped off when the donor died. The volume explores this popular, widely related narrative in detail to examine its role in the procedures stigmatisation, its engagement with the doctrine of medical sympathy, and its unique attempt to commoditise living human flesh. Utilising medical research and book histories alongside literary criticism, Rhinoplasty and the nose in early modern British medicine and culture historicises key modern questions about the commodification and limits of the human body, the impact of popular culture on medical practice, and the ethical connotations of bodily modification as response to stigma. Review this is a carefully researched and convincing book about the multi-layered reception of one controversial surgical procedure. [...] this book is recommended not only to historians of medicine and the body but also to scholars interested in early modern British literary history and popular culture, queer theory and the history of sexuality.' -- Social History of Medicine From the Inside Flap This book explores experiences with and responses to the surgical reconstruction of the nose in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain, examining the concerns and possibilities raised by the idea of nose transplants in this period. Challenging histories of plastic surgery that posit a complete disappearance of pioneering Italian plastic surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzis reconstructive operation after his death in 1599, the book traces the actual extent of this knowledge within the medical community in order to uncover why such a procedure was anathema to early modern British culture. Medical knowledge of Tagliacozzis grafting technique was overtaken by a spurious story that the transplanted nose would be constructed from flesh purchased from a social inferior that dropped off when the donor died. The volume explores this popular, widely related narrative in detail to examine its role in the procedures stigmatisation, its engagement with the doctrine of medical sympathy, and its unique attempt to commoditise living human flesh. Utilising medical research and book histories alongside literary criticism, Rhinoplasty and the nose in early modern British medicine and culture historicises key modern questions about the commodification and limits of the human body, the impact of popular culture on medical practice, and the ethical connotations of bodily modification as response to stigma. From the Back Cover This book explores experiences with and responses to the surgical reconstruction of the nose in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain, examining the concerns and possibilities raised by the idea of 'nose transplants' in this period. Challenging histories of plastic surgery that posit a complete disappearance of pioneering Italian plastic surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzi's reconstructive operation after his death in 1599, the book traces the actual extent of this knowledge within the medical community in order to uncover why such a procedure was anathema to early modern British culture. Medical knowledge of Tagliacozzi's grafting technique was overtaken by a spurious story that the transplante