Rebecca Anne Barr is Lecturer above the bar at the National University of Ireland, Galway Sylvie Kleiman-Lafon is Matre de confrences at Universit Paris 8 Sophie Vasset is Matre de confrences at Universit Paris-Diderot
' The fart, unpent, that croons its air / Often foils death, dispels despair. Bellies, bowels and entrails, while it contains a wealth of material with comic potential that was often realised, is certainly not destined to be 'bumfodder', a common fate for much eighteenth-century literature. This fascinating, scholarly and entertaining examination of all things digestive advances the burgeoning field of stomach studies, especially by giving it a multi-disciplinary and European perspective. Any reader interested in the eighteenth century, or in medical humanities generally, will find this excellent volume crucial to their understanding of the practicalities and metaphorics of this most fundamental (forgive the pun) area of human experience.' Clark Lawlor, Professor of Eighteenth-Century English Literature at Northumbria University -- .