George Rousseau
Encyclopedia
George Sebastian Rousseau (born February 23, 1941) is an American cultural historian. He was educated at Amherst College
and Princeton University
where he obtained his doctorate. From 1966 to 1968 he was part of the English Faculty at Harvard University
, before moving to a professorship at UCLA, and later to the Regius Chair of English at Aberdeen University in Aberdeen, Scotland. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
and a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines. Since then he has been attached to the History Faculty at Oxford University in Oxford, England where he is a Co-Director of the Centre for the History of Childhood. Rousseau is a cultural historian who works in the interface of literature and medicine, and emphasizes the relevance of imaginative materials - literature, especially diaries and biography, art and architecture, music - for the public understanding of medicine, past and present. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate honoris causa by the University of Bucharest, Romania.
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
and Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
where he obtained his doctorate. From 1966 to 1968 he was part of the English Faculty at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, before moving to a professorship at UCLA, and later to the Regius Chair of English at Aberdeen University in Aberdeen, Scotland. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
and a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines. Since then he has been attached to the History Faculty at Oxford University in Oxford, England where he is a Co-Director of the Centre for the History of Childhood. Rousseau is a cultural historian who works in the interface of literature and medicine, and emphasizes the relevance of imaginative materials - literature, especially diaries and biography, art and architecture, music - for the public understanding of medicine, past and present. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate honoris causa by the University of Bucharest, Romania.
Works
- This Long Disease My Life: Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
and the Sciences (Princeton: Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
, 1968, with Marjorie Hope Nicolson) - English Poetic SatireSatireSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
(New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1969, with Neil Rudenstine) paperback ISBN: 0-03-079125-1 - The Augustan Milieu: Essays Presented to Louis A. Landa (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970, with Eric Rothstein)
- Tobias SmollettTobias SmollettTobias George Smollett was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , which influenced later novelists such as Charles Dickens.-Life:Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton,...
: Bicentennial Essays Presented to Lewis M. Knapp (New York: Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1971, with P. G. Boucé) - Organic Form: The Life of an Idea (London: RoutledgeRoutledgeRoutledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
, 1972) ISBN: 0-7100-7246-5 - Oliver GoldsmithOliver GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
: The Critical Heritage (London: RoutledgeRoutledgeRoutledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
, 1974; rev. ed. 195) paperback ISBN: 0415134374 - The Ferment of Knowledge: Studies in the Historiography of Science (Cambridge: Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1980, with Roy PorterRoy PorterRoy Sydney Porter was a British historian noted for his prolific work on the history of medicine.-Life:...
) paperback ISBN 978–0-521–08718-6 - The Letters and Private Papers of Sir John Hill ((New York: AMSAMS-Companies:*AMS *Auxiliary Medical Services* Austria Mikro Systeme, the old name of austriamicrosystems*American Management Systems*AMS Pictures*Arbiter Modeling Systems Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia*Association of Muslim Schools...
Press, 1981) ISBN: 0404614728 - Tobias SmollettTobias SmollettTobias George Smollett was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , which influenced later novelists such as Charles Dickens.-Life:Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton,...
: Essays of Two Decades (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University PressEdinburgh University PressEdinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.-History:Edinburgh University Press was founded over 50 years ago and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh in 1992...
, 1982) ISBN 0-567-09330-1 - Science and the Imagination: The Berkeley Conference - Metastudies of the Humanities and Social Sciences (New York: Annals of Scholarship, 1986) paperback ISSN 0192-2858
- Sexual Underworlds of the EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
(Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1987, with Roy PorterRoy PorterRoy Sydney Porter was a British historian noted for his prolific work on the history of medicine.-Life:...
) paper ISBN: 0719024404 - The Enduring Legacy: Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
Tercentenary Essays (Cambridge: Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1988, with Pat Rogers) - Exoticism in the EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
(Manchester: Manchester University PressManchester University PressManchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher...
, 1990, with Roy PorterRoy PorterRoy Sydney Porter was a British historian noted for his prolific work on the history of medicine.-Life:...
) - The Languages of PsychePsyche (psychology)The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
: Mind and Body in EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
Thought (Berkeley, Los Angeles and Oxford: University of California PressUniversity of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
, 1991) paper ISBN: 0520071190 - Perilous EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
: Pre- and Post-Modern Discourses--Sexual, Historical (Manchester: Manchester University PressManchester University PressManchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher...
, 1991) ISBN: 0-7190-3301-2 - EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
Crossings: Pre- and Post-Modern Discourses-- Anthropological (Manchester: Manchester University PressManchester University PressManchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher...
, 1991) ISBN: 0-7190-3072-2 - EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
Borders: Pre- and Post-Modern Discourses--Medical, Scientific (Manchester: Manchester University PressManchester University PressManchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher...
, 1991) ISBN: 0-7190-3506-6 - Medicine and the Muses (Florence, Italy: La Nuova Italia Editrice, Scandicci, 1993, translated into Italian by A. La Vergata) paperback ISBN 88-221-1232-6
- HysteriaHysteriaHysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...
Before Freud (Berkeley, Los Angeles and Oxford: University of California PressUniversity of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
, 1993, with Elaine Showalter, Sander Gilman, Roy PorterRoy PorterRoy Sydney Porter was a British historian noted for his prolific work on the history of medicine.-Life:...
, and Helen King) - GoutGoutGout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...
: The Patrician Malady (New Haven and London: Yale University PressYale University PressYale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
, 1998, with Roy PorterRoy PorterRoy Sydney Porter was a British historian noted for his prolific work on the history of medicine.-Life:...
) paperback ISBN 0300082746 - Framing and Imagining Disease in Cultural History (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave MacmillanPalgrave MacmillanPalgrave Macmillan is an international academic and trade publishing company, headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom and with offices in New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Delhi, Johannesburg. It was created in 2000 when St...
, 2003, with M. Gill, D. Haycock, and M. Herwig) ISBN: 1-4039-1292-0 - Marguerite YourcenarMarguerite YourcenarMarguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie française, in 1980, and the seventeenth person to occupy Seat 3.-Biography:Yourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie...
: A Biography (London: HausHausHaus may refer to:* The German word for House.* In Mathematics, the category of Hausdorff spaces with continuous maps.* The serious academic and social student residence of Das Haus, Queen's University, Kingston ON.-People:...
, 2004, translated into Portuguese and Romanian) ISBN: 1-904341-28-4 - Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature Culture and SensibilitySensibilitySensibility refers to an acute perception of or responsiveness toward something, such as the emotions of another. This concept emerged in eighteenth-century Britain, and was closely associated with studies of sense perception as the means through which knowledge is gathered...
(Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave MacmillanPalgrave MacmillanPalgrave Macmillan is an international academic and trade publishing company, headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom and with offices in New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Delhi, Johannesburg. It was created in 2000 when St...
2004) paperback ISBN: 1-4039-3454-1 - Children and Sexuality: The Greeks to the Great War (London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) ISBN 0230525261
- The Sciences of HomosexualityHomosexualityHomosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
in Early Modern Europe (London and New York: RoutledgeRoutledgeRoutledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
, 2008, with Kenneth Borris) paperback ISBN: 9-780415-403214
External links
- Oxford University Centre for the History of Childhood
- George Rousseau's website
- The History Child
- Discovering the Human Conference Berlin 10-12 September 2009
- Children and Sexuality: The Greeks to the Great War
- sample contributions to The Lancet
- The Oxford Forum, Oxford University
- London Consortium Debates, 2009
- Wellcome Collection Event, London, September 2009
- The Guardian reviews
- Debrett's People of Today 2009, p. 448