Description
The following sources offer a short survey of one particularly troubling source of fear—and indeed horror—in the early modern period, namely—the womb. A mysterious, uniquely feminine organ, for centuries the womb has been the stuff of fantasies and nightmares. It has been imagined at one and the same time as a haven and a hell, a nest and a tomb, a source of pleasure and pain, life and illness.
The following excerpts come from different genres, spaces, and languages. The first two excerpts are taken from two medical compendiums written around the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first text appears in Italian physician Jacob Zahalon’s 1683 Otzar ha-chayim (Treasure of Life). The second is an excerpt from Metz-born physician Tuviah Ha-cohen’s much more familiar Maaseh Tuviah, published in 1708. The third excerpt appearing below is taken from a Yiddish booklet published anonymously sometime between 1714 and 1722, and is an extensively Judaized adaptation of the tale of the princess and her seven brothers, made famous centuries later by Hans Christian Andersen. The fourth and final excerpt is taken from the German-Jewish merchant-woman Glikl’s late seventeenth century memoirs.
Start Date
23-8-2016 5:45 PM
End Date
23-8-2016 6:45 PM
Location
Fordham University
Included in
Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Social History Commons
A Short History of Horror: Early Modern Jews and their Monsters
Fordham University
The following sources offer a short survey of one particularly troubling source of fear—and indeed horror—in the early modern period, namely—the womb. A mysterious, uniquely feminine organ, for centuries the womb has been the stuff of fantasies and nightmares. It has been imagined at one and the same time as a haven and a hell, a nest and a tomb, a source of pleasure and pain, life and illness.
The following excerpts come from different genres, spaces, and languages. The first two excerpts are taken from two medical compendiums written around the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first text appears in Italian physician Jacob Zahalon’s 1683 Otzar ha-chayim (Treasure of Life). The second is an excerpt from Metz-born physician Tuviah Ha-cohen’s much more familiar Maaseh Tuviah, published in 1708. The third excerpt appearing below is taken from a Yiddish booklet published anonymously sometime between 1714 and 1722, and is an extensively Judaized adaptation of the tale of the princess and her seven brothers, made famous centuries later by Hans Christian Andersen. The fourth and final excerpt is taken from the German-Jewish merchant-woman Glikl’s late seventeenth century memoirs.
