The Book and the Magic of Reading in the Middle AgesAlbrecht 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 and the Medieval Book of Nature | 3 |
Virgils Hero Reborn in Twelfth Century Vernacular Representations | 21 |
Frame and Story in the Old French Dolopathos | 35 |
Mystery Enlightenment Spirituality and Love | 61 |
Book Metaphors in the Textual Community of the Ancrene Wisse | 99 |
Authorship and Textuality in Pearl The Divine Comedy and Piers Plowman | 123 |
The Rhetoric of Knowledge Revelation and Interpretation in Libro de Apolonio | 149 |
Interpreting Infinite Regression or the Narcissus Syndrome | 171 |
Story Picture and Reading in Wynkyn de Wordes Vitas Patrum | 219 |
Reading the Virgin Reader | 253 |
St Mary as an Ideal Reader and St Mary as a Textbook | 277 |
| 295 | |
The Authors | 299 |
List of Illustrations | 303 |
| 305 | |
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Common terms and phrases
AB language Albrecht Classen anchoress Ancrene Wisse Annunciation audience authorship Bonaventure Brian Stock Cambridge century chapter Chaucer Christ Christian courtly culture Dante Dante’s depicted divine Dolopathos drawing English example figure framestory French function Gabriel German God’s Gottfried von Strassburg Gregorius hero holy human influence interpretation Jerome Jerome’s Katherine Group King knowledge Langland language Latin learning letter Libro de Apolonio literacy literate Literature Lucinius magic of reading manuscript Marie de France Mary Mary’s meaning Medieval metaphor Middle Ages Middle English Middle High German Mittelalter monk narrative narrator nature oral Pachomen Parzival Piers Plowman poem poet poetic readers reflected religious role romance Scripture secular soul spiritual story symbol tale Tarsiana textual community Titurel tradition trans translation Tristan truth University Press vernacular Virgil Virgin visual Vitas Patrum Wolfram Wolfram von Eschenbach women Worde’s writing written text written word York