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Book Synopsis

Rebecca Lemon illuminates a previously-buried conception of addiction, as a form of devotion at once laudable, difficult, and extraordinary, that has been concealed by the persistent modern link of addiction to pathology. Surveying sixteenth-century invocations, she reveals how early moderns might consider themselves addicted to study, friendship, love, or God. However, she also uncovers their understanding of addiction as a form of compulsion that resonates with modern scientific definitions. Specifically, early modern medical tracts, legal rulings, and religious polemic stressed the dangers of addiction to alcohol in terms of disease, compulsion, and enslavement. Yet the relationship between these two understandings of addiction was not simply oppositional, for what unites these discourses is a shared emphasis on addiction as the overthrow of the will.
Etymologically, addiction is a verbal contract or a pledge, and even as sixteenth-century audiences actively embraced addicti

Addiction and Devotion in Early Modern England

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    A Paperback by Rebecca Lemon

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      View other formats and editions of Addiction and Devotion in Early Modern England by Rebecca Lemon

      Publisher: MT - University of Pennsylvania Press
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 2/27/2024
      ISBN13: 9781512826180, 978-1512826180
      ISBN10: 1512826189

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Rebecca Lemon illuminates a previously-buried conception of addiction, as a form of devotion at once laudable, difficult, and extraordinary, that has been concealed by the persistent modern link of addiction to pathology. Surveying sixteenth-century invocations, she reveals how early moderns might consider themselves addicted to study, friendship, love, or God. However, she also uncovers their understanding of addiction as a form of compulsion that resonates with modern scientific definitions. Specifically, early modern medical tracts, legal rulings, and religious polemic stressed the dangers of addiction to alcohol in terms of disease, compulsion, and enslavement. Yet the relationship between these two understandings of addiction was not simply oppositional, for what unites these discourses is a shared emphasis on addiction as the overthrow of the will.
      Etymologically, addiction is a verbal contract or a pledge, and even as sixteenth-century audiences actively embraced addicti

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