Castration: An Abbreviated History of Western Manhood

This unique and cutting edge book looks at the West’s fascination with, and misunderstanding of, castrated males. Gary Taylor takes in the sweep of Western thought on ‘the operation’, focusing on three key periods: the Early Church, one of whose Fathers, Origen, supposedly castrated himself the Early Modern, when castration was actually depicted on stage by Thomas Middleton the twenieth century, where, Taylor argues, Freud got it wrong.