Distributed for Tupelo Press
Identifying the Pathogen
A hybrid collection blending historical research and contemporary essays to consider the nature of oppressive marriage and gender inequity.
Composed as a lab notebook recording various surgeries, autopsies, and experiments, Identifying the Pathogen tells the story of a scientist on an obsessive quest to document an ailment that resists classification. The book considers the body in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, woven through with the story of Anna Morandi Manzolini—an eighteenth-century Italian anatomist and artist who struggled to support a husband suffering from depression—as well as several essays detailing accounts of a ruptured appendix, a splintered cello, and an ill-fated rock climbing excursion.
Composed as a lab notebook recording various surgeries, autopsies, and experiments, Identifying the Pathogen tells the story of a scientist on an obsessive quest to document an ailment that resists classification. The book considers the body in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, woven through with the story of Anna Morandi Manzolini—an eighteenth-century Italian anatomist and artist who struggled to support a husband suffering from depression—as well as several essays detailing accounts of a ruptured appendix, a splintered cello, and an ill-fated rock climbing excursion.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Contents
i.
Anna Morandi Manzolini
+
the influence of vision on the mind
the lab
the body
philtrum
pericardium
sinus
post script
the lab
+
Wax Self-Portrait
Wax Portrait of a Husband
Wax Portrait of a Marriage
Autopsy Report
+
the body
cell
bone
mortality
the body
traits/the eye
+
The Ten Commandments of the Anatomist’s Wife
Wax Portrait of a Husband
Wax Portrait of a Cadaver
Autopsy Report
+
vision
travel
the body
microscope slide
blood/leukemia
respiration
blood
ii.
Anna Morandi Manzolini
+
the lab
the lab
in the lab/ill
identifying the pathogen
musculoskeletal
physiognomy
+
Wax Self-Portrait
Wax Portrait of a Husband
Autopsy Report
+
blood/heart
blood
genetics/the cell/reproduction/asexual
landscape with fossils/diatoms/day with
the lab
spring/bloomings/foliage/flora
scales
+
Wax Self-Portrait
Wax Portrait of a Cadaver
Wax Portrait of a Cadaver
Autopsy Report
+
time/day: transmutations
mortality
open season
the lab
vivisection
iii.
Anna Morandi Manzolini
+
time/lab
s(k)in(s)
corollaries
the lab
time/day: transmutations
+
Wax Portrait of Husband as Male Anglerfish
Wax Portrait of a Marriage
Wax Portrait of a Cadaver
+
blood
pestilent tether/garroted frenzy/anaerobic ferment
eye/vision
mind
the body
radar eve
+
Wax Portrait of a Son
Wax Portrait
+
the lab
specimen slide
brain
vivisection
the lab
the circle museum
+
Anna Morandi Manzolini
notes & acknowledgments 132
i.
Anna Morandi Manzolini
+
the influence of vision on the mind
the lab
the body
philtrum
pericardium
sinus
post script
the lab
+
Wax Self-Portrait
Wax Portrait of a Husband
Wax Portrait of a Marriage
Autopsy Report
+
the body
cell
bone
mortality
the body
traits/the eye
+
The Ten Commandments of the Anatomist’s Wife
Wax Portrait of a Husband
Wax Portrait of a Cadaver
Autopsy Report
+
vision
travel
the body
microscope slide
blood/leukemia
respiration
blood
ii.
Anna Morandi Manzolini
+
the lab
the lab
in the lab/ill
identifying the pathogen
musculoskeletal
physiognomy
+
Wax Self-Portrait
Wax Portrait of a Husband
Autopsy Report
+
blood/heart
blood
genetics/the cell/reproduction/asexual
landscape with fossils/diatoms/day with
the lab
spring/bloomings/foliage/flora
scales
+
Wax Self-Portrait
Wax Portrait of a Cadaver
Wax Portrait of a Cadaver
Autopsy Report
+
time/day: transmutations
mortality
open season
the lab
vivisection
iii.
Anna Morandi Manzolini
+
time/lab
s(k)in(s)
corollaries
the lab
time/day: transmutations
+
Wax Portrait of Husband as Male Anglerfish
Wax Portrait of a Marriage
Wax Portrait of a Cadaver
+
blood
pestilent tether/garroted frenzy/anaerobic ferment
eye/vision
mind
the body
radar eve
+
Wax Portrait of a Son
Wax Portrait
+
the lab
specimen slide
brain
vivisection
the lab
the circle museum
+
Anna Morandi Manzolini
notes & acknowledgments 132
Author Events
Mar 19, 2026 07:00 PM, Pacific Time
Jennifer Militello will read from Identifying the Pathogen at the Grolier Poetry Bookshop
Jennifer Militello will read from and discuss Identifying the Pathogen at Grolier Poetry Bookshop. For more information and tickets, visit the store's site.
Grolier Poetry Bookshop
6 Plympton Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Apr 26, 2026 02:15 PM, Pacific Time
Jennifer Militello will read from Identifying the Pathogen at the Monadnock Pastoral Writer's Retreat
Jennifer Militello will read from and discuss Identifying the Pathogen at the Monadnock Pastoral Writers Retreat. For more information and tickets, visit the store's site.
Monadnock Pastoral Writers Retreat
Barbara C. Harris Conference Center
Greenfield, New Hampshire