gianna pomata - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by gianna pomata
Isis, 2017
This essay deals with the medical recipe as an epistemic genre that played an important role in t... more This essay deals with the medical recipe as an epistemic genre that played an important role in the cross-cultural transmission of knowledge. The article first compares the development of the recipe as a textual form in Chinese and European premodern medical cultures. It then focuses on the use of recipes in the transmission of Chinese pharmacology to Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century. The main sources examined are the Chinese medicinal formulas translated-presumably-by the Jesuit Michael Boym and published in Specimen Medicinae Sinicae (1682), a text that introduced Chinese pulse medicine to Europe. The article examines how the translator rendered the Chinese formulas into Latin for a European audience. Arguably, the translation was facilitated by the fact that the recipe as a distinct epistemic genre had developed, with strong parallels, in both Europe and China. Building on these parallels, the translator used the recipe as a shared textual format that would allow the transfer of knowledge between the two medical cultures.
Arenal: Revista de Historia de las Mujeres, 2013
Historians have often emphasized the anti-feminist role played by medical argument in the early m... more Historians have often emphasized the anti-feminist role played by medical argument in the early modern Querelle des Femmes. In this article, I argue that this interpretation should be reconsidered. Plenty of evidence suggests that medicine played an important role on the pro-woman side of the Querelle , but so far this evidence has been analysed only piecemeal. When we review it together, a different story emerges, one in which proto-feminist arguments appear to be an influential and enduring aspect of early modern medical discourse, related to important new trends in early modern medicine. In this essay, I first look at the transformation of gender roles in humanism, and particularly in medical humanism, as they are indicated by two significant female voices in the Querelle , Nicole Liebault and Lucrezia Marinella, both daughters of physicians. I then examine one of the most striking novelties of early modern medicine, the emergence of medical writings on women’s diseases, newly ad...
Translation at Work, 2020
In 1596, the Roman physician Andrea Bacci published a natural history of wines containing stagger... more In 1596, the Roman physician Andrea Bacci published a natural history of wines containing staggeringly detailed descriptions of ancient Roman dinner parties drawn from his extensive reading as well as 'the authority.. . of various marble tombs' [336]. Like his earlier works dealing with hot springs and the Tiber, this book seamlessly combined natural history, antiquarianism, and medicine; and ranged over many other subjects such as religious debates, the virtues of his patron, and present-day dining customs. And that was just for a start.
This essay deals with the medical recipe as an epistemic genre that played an important role in t... more This essay deals with the medical recipe as an epistemic genre that played an important role in the cross-cultural transmission of knowledge. The article first compares the development of the recipe as a textual form in Chi-nese and European premodern medical cultures. It then focuses on the use of recipes in the transmission of Chinese pharmacology to Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century. The main sources examined are the Chinese medicinal formulas translated—presumably—by the Jesuit Michael Boym and published in Specimen Medicinae Sinicae (1682), a text that introduced Chinese pulse medicine to Europe. The article examines how the translator rendered the Chinese formulas into Latin for a European audience. Arguably, the translation was facilitated by the fact that the recipe as a distinct epistemic genre had developed, with strong parallels, in both Europe and China. Building on these parallels, the translator used the recipe as a shared textual format that would allow the transfer of knowledge between the two medical cultures. Isis, volume 108, number 1.. We would like to thank the audience in both venues for useful comments and criticism. We are particularly indebted to Martina Siebert, our fantastic commentator in Berlin, for alerting us to the existence of manuscript sources that proved invaluable for our research, and to Christian Dunkel of the Berlin Staatsbibliothek for facilitating our access to these manuscripts. We are very grateful to Harold Cook, Noël Golvers, Lorraine Daston, and Angela K. Leung for very helpful research suggestions.
Isis, 2017
This essay deals with the medical recipe as an epistemic genre that played an important role in t... more This essay deals with the medical recipe as an epistemic genre that played an important role in the cross-cultural transmission of knowledge. The article first compares the development of the recipe as a textual form in Chinese and European premodern medical cultures. It then focuses on the use of recipes in the transmission of Chinese pharmacology to Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century. The main sources examined are the Chinese medicinal formulas translated-presumably-by the Jesuit Michael Boym and published in Specimen Medicinae Sinicae (1682), a text that introduced Chinese pulse medicine to Europe. The article examines how the translator rendered the Chinese formulas into Latin for a European audience. Arguably, the translation was facilitated by the fact that the recipe as a distinct epistemic genre had developed, with strong parallels, in both Europe and China. Building on these parallels, the translator used the recipe as a shared textual format that would allow the transfer of knowledge between the two medical cultures.
Arenal: Revista de Historia de las Mujeres, 2013
Historians have often emphasized the anti-feminist role played by medical argument in the early m... more Historians have often emphasized the anti-feminist role played by medical argument in the early modern Querelle des Femmes. In this article, I argue that this interpretation should be reconsidered. Plenty of evidence suggests that medicine played an important role on the pro-woman side of the Querelle , but so far this evidence has been analysed only piecemeal. When we review it together, a different story emerges, one in which proto-feminist arguments appear to be an influential and enduring aspect of early modern medical discourse, related to important new trends in early modern medicine. In this essay, I first look at the transformation of gender roles in humanism, and particularly in medical humanism, as they are indicated by two significant female voices in the Querelle , Nicole Liebault and Lucrezia Marinella, both daughters of physicians. I then examine one of the most striking novelties of early modern medicine, the emergence of medical writings on women’s diseases, newly ad...
Translation at Work, 2020
In 1596, the Roman physician Andrea Bacci published a natural history of wines containing stagger... more In 1596, the Roman physician Andrea Bacci published a natural history of wines containing staggeringly detailed descriptions of ancient Roman dinner parties drawn from his extensive reading as well as 'the authority.. . of various marble tombs' [336]. Like his earlier works dealing with hot springs and the Tiber, this book seamlessly combined natural history, antiquarianism, and medicine; and ranged over many other subjects such as religious debates, the virtues of his patron, and present-day dining customs. And that was just for a start.
This essay deals with the medical recipe as an epistemic genre that played an important role in t... more This essay deals with the medical recipe as an epistemic genre that played an important role in the cross-cultural transmission of knowledge. The article first compares the development of the recipe as a textual form in Chi-nese and European premodern medical cultures. It then focuses on the use of recipes in the transmission of Chinese pharmacology to Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century. The main sources examined are the Chinese medicinal formulas translated—presumably—by the Jesuit Michael Boym and published in Specimen Medicinae Sinicae (1682), a text that introduced Chinese pulse medicine to Europe. The article examines how the translator rendered the Chinese formulas into Latin for a European audience. Arguably, the translation was facilitated by the fact that the recipe as a distinct epistemic genre had developed, with strong parallels, in both Europe and China. Building on these parallels, the translator used the recipe as a shared textual format that would allow the transfer of knowledge between the two medical cultures. Isis, volume 108, number 1.. We would like to thank the audience in both venues for useful comments and criticism. We are particularly indebted to Martina Siebert, our fantastic commentator in Berlin, for alerting us to the existence of manuscript sources that proved invaluable for our research, and to Christian Dunkel of the Berlin Staatsbibliothek for facilitating our access to these manuscripts. We are very grateful to Harold Cook, Noël Golvers, Lorraine Daston, and Angela K. Leung for very helpful research suggestions.