Body Language examines the complex intersections of British eighteenth-century comic fiction and medical discourse. By engaging medical writings of renowned and widely-read physicians of the Enlightenment such as John Freind, Thomas Sydenham, Albrecht von Haller, John Whytt, and William Cullen, with novels of humor by Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett, Laurence Sterne, and Charlotte Lennox, Alves explains how medicine shaped comic language by dramatizing female-specific phenomena like menstruation, hysteria, nervous disorders, and pregnancy. In these novels, the medical belief that women are incapable of bodily self-regulation becomes an imperative for policing women\u2019s bodies and highlights the enduring shortcomings of patriarchal systems. Ultimately, these comic representations offer a\n\nBody Language\nMedicine and the Eighteenth-Century Comic Novel\nFree UK delivery on this item.\n\nThis brand new item is available with free UK delivery using Royal Mail tracked services.\n\nPle;