Lucian and the Doctors. Literary and Medical Forms of Textualisation in Early Modern Spain

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Folke Gernert
• Subject Area: European and American Literary and Cultural Studies
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 502502313

A doctor from Jamilena – as the protagonist in Francisco Delicado's Lozana Andaluza (1528) mocks – mixed all the urine samples from his village in order to diagnose what was ailing society. In literary works by early modern physicians, such a combination of textualization of medical practices with a humorous view of contemporary ills is not uncommon. The planned research project aims to map and historically contextualise the literary production of physicians in early modern Spain. The Renaissance and medical humanism signify a paradigm shift for the art of healing in many respects – one need only mention the discovery of the flora and fauna of the Americas or the pioneering anatomical studies of Vesalius. While the existence of new plant species unknown to ancient authorities such as Pliny and Dioscorides led to questioning the very principle of auctoritas, the new knowledge of the body conditioned a different perception and representation of human beings. The need to question authority and norms may explain the tendency towards religious heterodoxy (Erasmism, Protestantism) that was conspicuous among humanist physicians. In the hand of the Renaissance medicus, the quill often becomes a dissecting knife with which to expose ulcers on the social body. The satirical verve with which this is done had probably been copied by one or the other writing doctor from Lucian, with whom any one would unavoidably become acquainted as soon as one started studying Greek. Physicians knew about the healing effect of laughter and used this side-effect-free medicine very generously in their literary and scientific texts.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants