Enlightenment Angst: James Parsonsâ A Mechanical and Critical Enquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites

Stephanie M. Hilger

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Chapter 8 Enlightenment Angst: James Parsonsâ A Mechanical and Critical Enquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites

In: Taking Stock â Twenty-Five Years of Comparative Literary Research

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Stephanie M. Hilger

Stephanie M. Hilger
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 247â269

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004410350_010

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Abstract

This article explores James Parsonsâ A Mechanical and Critical Enquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites (1741) in the context of the Enlightenment goal to elucidate all mysteries of the natural world. Parsonsâ text is typically discussed as representing the break between old, mythologically-inspired and new, fact-based explanations of sexually ambiguous bodies and thereby encapsulating Enlightenment objectivity, optimism, and certainty. A closer look, however, reveals that intellectual anxiety permeates Parsonsâ text, which was published in an era of turbulent epistemological changes. The hermaphrodite becomes the symbol for an era that strives to solve all mysteries of the natural world yet struggles with this endeavor.

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Taking Stock â Twenty-Five Years of Comparative Literary Research

Series:Â Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft Online, Volume: 200Â andÂ Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft, Volume: 200

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004410350

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 22 Oct 2019

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- Literature and Cultural Studies

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Chapter 8 Enlightenment Angst: James Parsonsâ A Mechanical and Critical Enquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites

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Taking Stock â Twenty-Five Years of Comparative Literary Research

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Chapter 8 Enlightenment Angst: James Parsonsâ A Mechanical and Critical Enquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites

Taking Stock â Twenty-Five Years of Comparative Literary Research