Hermaphrodites in Renaissance Europe

Kathleen Long analyzes works from a range of disciplines and domains, medical, alchemical, philosophical, poetic, and political, to explore the reasons for the centrality of the hermaphrodite in early modern European thought. She explores the significance of this figure for the elaboration of notions of gender, national, racial, and religious identity.

Kathleen P. Long is Professor in the Department of Romance Studies at Cornell University, USA.

Contents: Introduction: Sex and gender wars; Sexual dissonance: early modern scientific accounts of hermaphrodism; The cultural and medical construction of gender: Caspar Bauhin; Jacques Duval on hermaphrodites: culture wars in the medical profession; Hermetic hermaphrodites; Gender and power in the alchemical works of Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement; Lyric hermaphrodites; The royal hermaphrodite: Henri III of France; Hermaphrodites newly discovered: the cultural monsters of early modern France; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.