The Philosopher's Toothache

“In this striking and original study, Donovan Sherman deftly brings into focus the performative nature of Stoic practical ethics—most notably, its encouragement toward habitual, even if imperfect, practice and its more humane concessions to embodiment than caricatures of the Stoic sage normally allow—in order to persuasively rewrite the history of early modern theater’s engagement with Stoic philosophy. Alert to the nuances of intellectual history as well as to the material conditions of performance, The Philosopher’s Toothache will prove indispensable for anyone interested in the intersections of classical philosophy and the Renaissance stage.” —Christopher Crosbie, author of Revenge Tragedy and Classical Philosophy on the Early Modern Stage

“. . . an ambitious and often ingenious bid to reopen the boundaries of a long-established field of study.” —Adam Rzepka, contributor to Knowing Shakespeare: Senses, Embodiment and Cognition

“In The Philosopher’s Toothache, Donovan Sherman brilliantly exposes the inherent theatricality of Stoic philosophical practice: one imitates virtues only knowable through their enactment; Stoic practitioners are actors embodying scripted techniques. These crucial insights allow for fresh encounters with the stock or wooden Stoics of the early modern stage and for the discovery of a more dynamic Stoicism in unexpected forms and places, some delightful and some devastating. Sherman probes the complexity of a theatrical Stoicism that, on the one hand, promotes an ethics of care in the care one takes for how one’s performance is perceived and, and on the other, founds itself in opposition to a chillingly aestheticized notion of unfreedom that he critiques with great sensitivity.” —Stephanie Shirilan, author of Robert Burton and the Transformative Powers of Melancholy