Healing Words - Roberta Mullini

. .

Résumé :
During the English Restoration, London unlicensed health carers printed handbills as the easiest way to advertise their medical practices. In order to increase our awareness of irregular medical practitioners as a cultural phenomenon and examine their language, two collections of handbills have been transcribed. The study analyses the lexicon used to address readers, the traits of orality in written communication as well as the places where proprietary medicines were sold. Furthermore it looks closely at the visual impact of some handbills and the role of anti-quack satire at the end of the seventeenth century.

Biographie:
Roberta Mullini is Professor of English Literature at the University of Urbino Carlo Bo (Italy). She has published widely on late medieval and early modern theatre and drama. Her present interests also include cultural studies and historical linguistics.

Sommaire:
Contents: Historical Context - A Corpus-based Approach to the Language of Quacks - Common Complaints in Corpora from the Medical Domain - How Quacks Addressed their Audience - Quacks and the Media - Three Case Studies: Men, Women, and a Courtier.