The Book and the Magic of Reading in the Middle Ages

Front Cover
Albrecht Classen
Routledge, 2013 M10 11 - 343 pages
The computer revolution is upon us. The future of books and of reading are debated. Will there be books in the next millennium? Will we still be reading? As uncertain as the answers to these questions might be, as clear is the message about the value of the book expressed by medieval writers. The contributors to the volume The Book and the Magic of Reading in the Middle Ages explore the significance of the written document as the key icon of a whole era. Both philosophers and artists, both poets and clerics wholeheartedly subscribed to the notion that reading and writing represented essential epistemological tools for spiritual, political, religious, and philosophical quests. To gain a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of the medieval book, the contributors to this volume examine pertinent statements by medieval philosophers and French, German, English, Spanish, and Italian poets.
 

Contents

Bonaventure
3
Virgils Hero Reborn
21
Frame and Story
35
The Book and the Power of Reading in Medieval
61
Book Metaphors in the Textual Community
99
Authorship
123
The Rhetoric of Knowledge
149
Story Picture and Reading in Wynkyn de Wordes Vitas Patrum
219
Reading the Virgin Reader
253
St Mary as an Ideal Reader
277
Select Bibliography
295
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Albrecht Classen

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