Introduction: Bodies, Fluidity, and Change

[Extract] FLUID BODIES AND Bodily Fluids in Premodern Europe: Bodies, Blood, and Tears in Literature, Theology, and Art is an interdisciplinary collection, containing chapters from specialists in history, art history, and literature, dealing with material from the early Middle Ages to the early modern period. The essays focus on discussions regarding the body and how its ��luids both signify and explain change. For medieval and early modern thinkers, the apparent solidity of the body only came about through the dynamic interplay of a host of ��luidities in constant ��lux. The intimately familiar language of the body served as a convenient medium through which to imagine and describe transformations of the larger world, both for the better and also for the worse. Rethinking the human body was one way to approach rede��ining the social, political, and religious realities of the world.