This cornucopia of information, most of it surprisingly sensible,
some of it hilarious, and only parts of it outright quackery, has
been culled from 16th century Italian advice manuals intended for
middle class readers about how men and women should behave towards
on another. From the tricky moment of conception through pregnancy
and birth, (no proper medication, anaesthetics, no forceps until
the early 18th century) down the rocky road of adolescence and into
the broad thoroughfare of marital relaitons, Professor Bell
confidently guides us. Via the mass of detail and the insights into
the workings of the Renaissance household, a picture of an entire
society gradually emerges, showing us that, dspite the march of the
centuries, human nature does not change very much. The great divide
lies in the inequality of the sexes, It was the duty of men to rule
and of women to obey, theoretically at least. Women were mothers
and companions, no more. But the unevenness of this relationship
doesn't necessarily mean unhappiness. One had to rule and one had
to knuckle under, just as in a ship, a recurring metaphor in advice
literature. There are numerous examples of satirical literature at
the expense of women. Don't listen to women, writes Giuseppe Passi.
There are plenty of men who did and they ended up dead. Think again
if you believe Renaissance manuals must be primitive and out of
date. The irresistable force of human nature battles it out with
morality and etiquette. (Kirkus UK)
"How to Do It" shows us sixteenth-century Italy from an entirely
new perspective: through manuals which were staples in the
households of middlebrow Italians merely trying to lead better
lives. Addressing challenges such as how to conceive a boy, the
manuals offered suggestions such as tying a tourniquet around your
husband's left testicle. Or should you want to goad female desires,
throw 90 grubs in a liter of olive oil, let steep in the sun for a
week and apply liberally on the male anatomy. Bell's journey
through booklets long dismissed by scholars as being of little
literary value gives us a refreshing and surprisingly fun social
history.
"Lively and curious reading, particularly in its cascade of
anecdote, offered in a breezy, cozy, journalistic style." --Lauro
Martines, "Times Literary Supplement"
" Bell's] fascinating book is a window on a lost world far nearer
to our own than we might imagine. . . . How pleasant to read his
delightful, informative and often hilarious book." --Kate Saunders,
"The Independent"
"An extraordinary work which blends the learned with the frankly
bizarre." --"The Economist"
"Professor Bell has a sly sense of humor and an enviably strong
stomach. . . . He wants to know how people actually behaved, not
how the Church or philosophers or earnest humanists thought they
should behave. I loved this book." --Christopher Stace, "Daily
Telegraph"
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