The Modulated Scream: Pain in Late Medieval Culture
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.81 (954 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0226112675 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-07-07 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A scholarly opus on the history of thought on pain Marshall Devor "The Modulated Scream: Pain in Late Medieval Culture" by Esther Cohen, is a remarkable book. It is a well written, enriching, deeply scholarly, review of how pain was viewed in the fields of law, medicine and Christian religion in the time of monasticism. It is not an easy read despite the occasional witty/sarcastic quip. The subject matter is strange (serious legal experts saw torture as a means of obtaining truth and doctors felt that pain
Compassing churchmen, jurists, physicians, mystics, and the humble women and men who sought cures at the shrines of saints, it is a profound study of a fundamental human experience.”. “The Modulated Scream, based on a stunning array of primary sources, takes a close look at the many meanings of pain in the later Middle Ages
Ambitious and wide-ranging, The Modulated Scream is intellectual history at its most acute.. In considering how people understood suffering, explained it, and meted it out, Cohen discovers that pain was imbued with multiple meanings. It could be encouragement to lead a moral life, a punishment for wrong doing, or a method of healing. In the late medieval era, pain could be a symbol of holiness, disease, sin, or truth. In the overlap of these contradicting attitudes about what pain was for—how it was to be understood and who should use it—Cohen reveals the distinct and often conflicting cultural traditions and practices of late medieval Europeans. While interpreting pain was the province only of the rarified elite, harnessing pain for religious, moral, legal, and social purposes was a practice that pervaded all classes of Medieval life. Exploring the varied depictions and descriptions of pain—from martyrdom narratives to practices of torture and surgery—The Modulated Scream attempts to decode this culture of suffering in the Middle Ages.Esther Cohen brings to life the cacophony of howls emerging