victorian period

This episode of ReligionWise features Dr. Lorenzo Servitje, Associate Professor Literature and the Director of the Health, Medicine and Society program at Lehigh University. Trained in both Victorian Literature and Public Health, he considers the way that culture influences and is influenced by questions of health, healthcare, and disease.

In this conversation we consider the broader field of Medical Humanities, where it came from and why it is important. We then dig into his particular area of interest, monsters of the Victorian era, from Dracula to Mr. Hyde, asking what can they tell us about both historic and contemporary understandings of health, sickness, and treatment.

Show Notes

• Medicine Is War: The Martial Metaphor in Victorian Literature and Culture
  (https://sunypress.edu/Books/M/Medicine-Is-War)
• The Not-So-Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Antibiotic Research: An Interdisciplinary Opportunity 
  (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33379290/)
• The Walking Med: Zombies and the Medical Image
  (https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07711-6.html)

In this mini episode we talk about the tragic death of Mary Ann Walkley in 1863, caused in part by the appalling working conditions in the workshop of Madame Elise a highly respected Court dress maker. This will be a meditation on class and the difference between working women and the wealthy ladies who commissioned them to make their gowns. 

Illustration 
Instagram @themuseumoffemininty

Sources 
https://victorianweb.org/gender/ugoretz1.html
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/107899
https://www.mimimatthews.com/2016/09/20/death-at-the-needle-the-tragedy-of-victorian-seamstress-mary-walkley/

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) was one of the most popular poets of the Victorian period, remembered for her challenging poetry and courage of her views. In this 10-Minute Talk Isobel Armstrong discusses key stages of her life and work, from the courtship letters she wrote to her future husband through to the 19th century social and political issues which fed into her work.

Speaker: Professor Isobel Armstrong FBA Emeritus Professor of English, Birkbeck, University of London; Senior Research Fellow, Institute of English Studies; International Scholar, American Academy

Transcript: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/podcasts/10-minute-talks-the-life-and-work-of-elizabeth-barrett-browning/