Recent reading

[luzula]

Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings (2022)
Read for book club. This is a space opera with time travel; I found it to be page-turney, but I don't think it will linger in my mind. This was also the opinion of most of the book club members.

William Hunter and the 18th Century Medical World, edited by W. F. Bynum and Roy Porter (1985)
I am not actually interested in this William Hunter fellow, but I figured an anthology might be a good way into a subject which I know little about, but which I need to research for fic-writing purposes. And indeed it had some good information, though I skipped about half of the essays as irrelevant for me. The most fun essay was not one I actually read for research, though who knows how it might be useful: it was about changing ideas of how conception works, and concurrently changing ideas about female agency and pleasure during sex (about 1600-1850).

I need to read more about, in mid-18th century Britain and France:
- the career paths by which men became surgeons and physicians,
- medicine as taught at universities,
- medicine as actually practiced by surgeons and physicians.

Not that I need a deep knowledge of this, just enough to make sure the basics are right and get some inspiration for good details for my story. Now to find more sources...

Comments

[aurumcalendula]

Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings

Same. tbh I think I liked the concept more than the execution.

[luzula]

It seems to be a common opinion!

[oursin]

You've presumably already read the Wendy Moore book on John Hunter, The Knife Man.

Who is the essay by? if it's who I suspect it might be (given the date) I might have serious qualms.

[luzula]

Nope! Do you recommend it as general background, even if I have no particular interest in the person himself?

The essay is by Angus McLaren, whom I seem to remember you have mentioned positively before? But I suppose if the book is older, the scholarship might be out of date anyway.

[oursin]

I have heard well of it as intro to world of surgery and anatomy of the period and v readable.

Angus is great, I was worried it might be T Laqueur.

[luzula]

Well, thanks for the rec, I have put in an interlibrary loan request for it! (Bless the university library for facilitating fanfic writing research.)

[oursin]

I don't know whether this book would be relevant to your interests?

[luzula]

Thank you! : ) Not directly relevant to the fic research I'm doing now (which is about how a man would go about changing careers to medicine, not specifically to midwifery), but it does look interesting in general.

[chestnut_pod]

The essay you mentioned on conception sounds interesting!

[luzula]

It was! The focus is on Britain. Very briefly, the earlier idea about conception was that the woman had to come in order for it to take place. Which isn't that far-fetched--the idea was that both men and women had to contribute seed, and since men need to come for their seed to be ejaculated, the same was true for women. So the focus on women's pleasure was obviously positive, though it also had a negative side: if a woman was raped and conceived, that was used as evidence that it wasn't really rape. But during the 18th century ideas about conception gradually changed, until in the 19th century comes the “lie back and think of England” thing, where women were expected to be passive and their pleasure unimportant (for conception and otherwise). The rape thing did change, though.

[regshoe]

Huh, that is fascinating stuff!

[mergatrude]

Can I recommend Medical Students in England and France 18-15-1858, which might be a bit late for your purposes, but is still very interesting.

[luzula]

It's a bit too late for my period, so probably not that useful for me! But thanks anyway. : ) I mean, I might read it if I was interested in the subject for its own sake, but really I just want to find what I need for fic writing…

[mergatrude]

Oh, I absolutely understand. I read it a while ago when I was trying to write for Les Misérables, and forgot how time-specific it was. :)

[regshoe]

Your fic research sounds like it's going well and being very good fun! And it's especially good when you're reading a book to research one thing and get distracted by other fun historical stuff it contains—I like wandering off down side-paths—and that essay does sound interesting.

[luzula]

Yes, sidetracks are fun! : D A few comments up in the post, I talk about the essay about conception and women’s pleasure.