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SUMMARY:Useful books: reading vernacular regimens in 16th-century England 
 - Jennifer Richards (Newcastle University)
DTSTART:20120306T170000Z
DTEND:20120306T183000Z
UID:TALK35089@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Karin Ekholm
DESCRIPTION:The 'useful books' of my title constitute a distinctive genre 
 of medical writing which flourished in the sixteenth century\, advising on
  the preservation of health\, and often also providing an overview of and 
 introduction to Galenic physiology. They were useful\, most obviously\, be
 cause they dispensed advice at a time when few people had access to a lear
 ned physician and when most medical books were in Latin. This was the star
 ting point of the seminal study of the 'uses of vernacular medical\nlitera
 ture' by the social historian Paul Slack in 1979.\n\nWhen Slack wrote abou
 t vernacular health literature in the late seventies\, the history of read
 ing was in its infancy. No doubt\, if he were revising his essay now then 
 this would be the field to which he would turn to support many of his clai
 ms. Indeed\, one of the innovations of work in this field is the recogniti
 on that books were used in a variety of ways\, and often not closely read 
 but quickly consulted. Regimens surely were useful books in this way: thei
 r print layout and marginal annotation supports this argument. Yet\, I wou
 ld not want the obviousness of this to discourage us from thinking about o
 ther ways in which they might have been read. It is not just that much of 
 the advice they give is not always immediately applicable. Often the compi
 lers of regimens – very few of whom were physicians after all - invite a
 nd explore other kinds of reading\; this is sometimes meditative\, sometim
 es sceptical\, requiring a reader who is open to conflicting explanations.
  In this paper I will explore the different kinds of evidence we might use
  to recover the use of regimens – including their close relationship to 
 another kind of health book\, the table philosophy. More broadly\, I will 
 be considering how regimens challenge some more familiar ideas that have e
 merged from the history of reading about book-use\, especially the emphasi
 s on reading as 'digestion'.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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