PORTER_prosthesis.pdf (219.01 kB)
Prosthesis and the performance of beginnings in The woman in the moon
In his seminal study, Prosthesis, David Wills find ‘one type of beginning’ for prosthesis in the appearance of this term in Thomas Wilson’s The Art of Rhetorique (1553). Wills’ analysis focuses extensively on Wilson’s hostility towards this grammatical figure as an artificial other, and at times takes Wilson’s views as reflective of English Reformation thought on this subject more broadly. This essay opens up alternative sixteenth-century attitudes to prosthesis through an examination of John Lyly’s The Woman in the Moon (first published in 1597). Lyly’s play parodies anxieties about prosthesis in the depiction of the creation of a woman whose body is supplemented with heavenly attributes. In this way, Lyly presents a defence of prosthesis as artificial construction that is the product of, and sanctioned by divinity. In turn, Lyly’s play detaches prosthesis from tropes of otherness that dominate Wilson, and Wills’ accounts of this figure.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Textual PracticeISSN
0950-236XPublisher
Taylor & FrancisExternal DOI
Issue
7Volume
30Page range
1327-1344Department affiliated with
- English Publications
Research groups affiliated with
- Centre for Early Modern and Medieval Studies Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2016-09-23First Open Access (FOA) Date
2018-05-29First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2016-09-23Usage metrics
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