Leopold Froehlich

When the London newspaper the Athenian Mercury, edited and published by the author and bookseller John Dunton, first answered questions about romance, bodily functions, and the mysteries of the universe in 1691, it may have created the template for the advice column. But the history of advice stretches back even further into the past. Advice—whether unsolicited, unwarranted, or desperately sought—appears in ancient philosophical treatises, medieval medical manuals, and countless books.

attame: To attack, lay hands on, meddle with. From Latin attāmināre, to lay hands on, attack, violate. biopower: The power of a political entity to regulate the lives of the populace. After French bio-pouvoir.

academy: From ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία. The college of philosophy situated approximately a mile northwest of Athens’ Dipylon Gate, where Plato acquired property c. 387 bc; the academy continued for more than nine hundred years before the emperor Justinian closed it, together with other pagan schools. Bildungsroman: (German) Lit. Bildung, education, and Roman, novel. A novel that has as its main theme a person’s formative years or spiritual education.