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In Translations of Authority in Medieval English Literature,
leading critic Alastair Minnis presents the fruits of a long-term
engagement with the ways in which crucial ideological issues were
deployed in vernacular texts. The concept of the vernacular is seen
as possessing a value far beyond the category of language - as
encompassing popular beliefs and practices which could either
confirm or contest those authorized by church and state
institutions. Minnis addresses the crisis for vernacular
translation precipitated by the Lollard heresy; the minimal
engagement with Nominalism in late fourteenth-century poetry;
Langland"s views on indulgences; the heretical theology of Walter
Brut; Margery Kempe"s self-promoting biblical exegesis; and
Chaucer"s tales of suspicious saints and risible relics. These
discussions disclose different aspects of "vernacularity," enabling
a fuller understanding of its complexity and potency.
'Phantom limb pain' designates the sensations which seem to emanate
from limbs that in reality are missing. The phrase was coined by
the American Civil War surgeon, Weir Mitchell, in reference to his
fictional amputee, George Dedlow. Contemporary neuroscience holds
that the brain encloses a schema which covers the whole body, and
asserts its unity even if certain parts are missing. Reading
backwards from Dedlow's sufferings, Alastair Minnis traces the
medieval precedents and parallels, focusing on Augustine and Dante,
who subscribed to the notion of a 'body in the soul'. Dante's souls
in purgatory self-prosthesize with aerial phantoms as they long for
the full embodiment which only the resurrection can bring. Is a
complete body necessary for personhood? And how can the gamut of
human feelings be run if parts or the entirety of one's body does
not exist? Combining medieval studies and contemporary
neuroscience, this absorbing study explores the fascinating and
surprising history of phantom pain.
This is the first-ever history of the literary theory and criticism
produced during the Middle Ages that covers all the main traditions
in Latin, the major European vernaculars, and Byzantine Greek.
Starting with the study of grammar and the formal 'arts' of poetry,
letter-writing and preaching, it proceeds to offer a full
description of the Latin commentary tradition on classical and
classicizing literature, followed by explanations of medieval views
on literary imagination and memory, and the ways in which certain
texts were believed to achieve moral profit through pleasure.
Subsequent essays explore the diverse theoretical and critical
traditions which developed in the vernacular languages, ranging
from Medieval Irish to Old Norse, Occitan to Middle High German,
concentrating particularly on Dante and his commentators and
Italian humanist criticism. The volume concludes with an
examination of the attitudes to literature and its uses in Greek
Byzantium.
In Translations of Authority in Medieval English Literature,
leading critic Alastair Minnis presents the fruits of a long-term
engagement with the ways in which crucial ideological issues were
deployed in vernacular texts. The concept of the vernacular is seen
as possessing a value far beyond the category of language - as
encompassing popular beliefs and practices which could either
confirm or contest those authorized by church and state
institutions. Minnis addresses the crisis for vernacular
translation precipitated by the Lollard heresy; the minimal
engagement with Nominalism in late fourteenth-century poetry;
Langland's views on indulgences; the heretical theology of Walter
Brut; Margery Kempe's self-promoting biblical exegesis; and
Chaucer's tales of suspicious saints and risible relics. These
discussions disclose different aspects of 'vernacularity', enabling
a fuller understanding of its complexity and potency.
This is the first-ever history of the literary theory and criticism
produced during the Middle Ages that covers all the main traditions
in Latin, the major European vernaculars and Byzantine Greek.
Starting with the study of grammar and the formal 'arts' of poetry,
letter-writing and preaching, it proceeds to offer a full
description of the Latin commentary tradition on classical and
classicising literature, followed by explanations of medieval views
on literary imagination and memory and the ways in which certain
texts were believed to achieve moral profit through pleasure.
Subsequent essays explore the diverse theoretical and critical
traditions which developed in the vernacular languages, ranging
from Medieval Irish to Old Norse, Occitan to Middle High German,
concentrating particularly on Dante and his commentators and
Italian humanist criticism. The volume concludes with an
examination of the attitudes to literature and its uses in Greek
Byzantium.
An impressively learned and beautifully illustrated review of
medieval ideas about Paradise Did Adam and Eve need to eat in Eden
in order to live? If so, did human beings urinate and defecate in
paradise? And since people had no need for clothing,
transportation, or food, what purpose did animals serve? Would
carnivorous animals have preyed on other creatures? These were but
a few of the questions that plagued medieval scholars for whom the
idea of Eden proved an endless source of contemplation. As
theologians attempted to reconcile their own experiences with the
realities of the prelapsarian paradise, they crafted complex
answers that included explanations of God's interaction with
creation, the existence of death, and man's dominion over nature.
In From Eden to Eternity, Alastair Minnis examines accounts of the
origins of the human body and soul to illustrate the ways in which
the schoolmen thought their way back to Eden to discover
fundamental truths about humanity. He demonstrates how theologians
sought certainty in matters of orthodox Christian thought and also
engaged in speculation about matters that, they freely admitted,
were not susceptible to firm proof. Moreover, From Eden to Eternity
argues that the preoccupation with paradise belonged not only to
the schools but to society as a whole, and it traces how lay
writers and artists also attempted to interpret the origins of
human society. Eden transcended human understanding, yet it
afforded an extraordinary amount of creative space to late medieval
theologians, painters, and poets as they tried to understand the
place that God had deemed worthy of the creature made in His image.
An impressively learned and beautifully illustrated review of
medieval ideas about Paradise Did Adam and Eve need to eat in Eden
in order to live? If so, did human beings urinate and defecate in
paradise? And since people had no need for clothing,
transportation, or food, what purpose did animals serve? Would
carnivorous animals have preyed on other creatures? These were but
a few of the questions that plagued medieval scholars for whom the
idea of Eden proved an endless source of contemplation. As
theologians attempted to reconcile their own experiences with the
realities of the prelapsarian paradise, they crafted complex
answers that included explanations of God's interaction with
creation, the existence of death, and man's dominion over nature.
In From Eden to Eternity, Alastair Minnis examines accounts of the
origins of the human body and soul to illustrate the ways in which
the schoolmen thought their way back to Eden to discover
fundamental truths about humanity. He demonstrates how theologians
sought certainty in matters of orthodox Christian thought and also
engaged in speculation about matters that, they freely admitted,
were not susceptible to firm proof. Moreover, From Eden to Eternity
argues that the preoccupation with paradise belonged not only to
the schools but to society as a whole, and it traces how lay
writers and artists also attempted to interpret the origins of
human society. Eden transcended human understanding, yet it
afforded an extraordinary amount of creative space to late medieval
theologians, painters, and poets as they tried to understand the
place that God had deemed worthy of the creature made in His image.
Fallible Authors Chaucer's Pardoner and Wife of Bath Alastair
Minnis "In pages rich with explication of scholastic, literary, and
historical material, Minnis recovers a medieval notion of authorial
fallibility."--Seth Lerer, "TimesOnline" Can an outrageously
immoral man or a scandalous woman teach morality or lead people to
virtue? Does personal fallibility devalue one's words and deeds? Is
it possible to separate the private from the public, to segregate
individual failing from official function? Chaucer addressed these
perennial issues through two problematic authority figures, the
Pardoner and the Wife of Bath. The Pardoner dares to assume
official roles to which he has no legal claim and for which he is
quite unsuited. We are faced with the shocking consequences of the
belief, standard for the time, that immorality is not necessarily a
bar to effective ministry. Even more subversively, the Wife of
Bath, who represents one of the most despised stereotypes in
medieval literature, the sexually rapacious widow, dispenses wisdom
of the highest order. This innovative book places these "fallible
authors" within the full intellectual context that gave them
meaning. Alastair Minnis magisterially examines the impact of
Aristotelian thought on preaching theory, the controversial
practice of granting indulgences, religious and medical
categorizations of deviant bodies, theological attempts to
rationalize sex within marriage, Wycliffite doctrine that made
authority dependent on individual grace and raised the specter of
Donatism, and heretical speculation concerning the possibility of
female teachers. Chaucer's Pardoner and Wife of Bath are revealed
as interconnected aspects of a single radical experiment wherein
the relationship between objective authority and subjective
fallibility is confronted as never before. Alastair Minnis is
Professor of English at Yale University. He is the author of many
articles and books, including "Medieval Theory of Authorship," and
is coeditor of "The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism," vol.
2: "The Middle Ages." The Middle Ages Series 2007 528 pages 6 1/8 x
9 1/4 ISBN 978-0-8122-4030-6 Cloth $69.95s 45.50 ISBN
978-0-8122-0571-8 Ebook $69.95 45.50 World Rights Literature Short
copy: Alastair Minnis reveals Chaucer's Pardoner and Wife of Bath
as interconnected aspects of a radical literary experiment, wherein
the relationship between objective authority and subjective
fallibility is confronted as never before.
"An innovative and important book."--"Speculum" "This valuable book
. . . poses in a most interesting form the question of the
relationship generally between literary theory and literary
practice."--"Times Higher Education Supplement" "Stimulating and
learned. . . . This book should serve as a milestone in medieval
literary theory."--"Yearbook of English Studies" "No professional
medievalist with a serious interest in literature can afford to
leave this book unread."--"British Book News" "A work of great
importance. . . . Minnis's effort takes its own direction and
impressively breaks new ground . . . he has helped lay the course
theoretical criticism of medieval literature will have to pursue
for years to come. It is this originality which most makes
"Medieval Theory of Authorship" the important book that it
is."--"Studies in the Age of Chaucer" It has often been held that
scholasticism destroyed the literary theory that was emerging
during the twelfth-century Renaissance, and hence discussion of
late medieval literary works has tended to derive its critical
vocabulary from modern, not medieval, theory. In "Medieval Theory
of Authorship," now reissued with a new preface by the author,
Alastair Minnis asks, "Is it not better to search again for a
conceptual equipment which is at once historically valid and
theoretically illuminating?" Minnis has found such writings in the
glosses and commentaries on the authoritative Latin writers studied
in schools and universities between 1100 and 1400. The prologues to
these commentaries provide valuable insight into the medieval
theory of authorship. Of special significance is scriptural
exegesis, for medieval scholars found the Bible the most difficult
text to describe appropriately and accurately. Alastair Minnis is
Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of English at Yale University. His
"Fallible Authors: Chaucer's Pardoner and Wife of Bath" is also
published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Short copy:
Available again with a new preface, this classic work of medieval
literary scholarship argues that discussion of late-medieval
literary works has tended to derive its critical vocabulary from
modern, not medieval, theory, and offers instead a conceptual
equipment which is at once historically valid and theoretically
illuminating.
Geoffrey Chaucer is the best-known and most widely read of all
medieval British writers, famous for his scurrilous humour and
biting satire against the vices and absurdities of his age. Yet he
was also a poet of passionate love, sensitive to issues of gender
and sexual difference, fascinated by the ideological differences
between the pagan past and the Christian present, and a man of
science, knowledgeable in astronomy, astrology and alchemy. This
concise book is an ideal starting point for study of all his major
poems, particularly The Canterbury Tales, to which two chapters are
devoted. It offers close readings of individual texts, presenting
various possibilities for interpretation, and includes discussion
of Chaucer's life, career, historical context and literary
influences. An account of the various ways in which he has been
understood over the centuries leads into an up-to-date, annotated
guide to further reading.
As literary scholars have long insisted, an interdisciplinary
approach is vital if modern readers are to make sense of works of
medieval literature. In particular, rather than reading the works
of medieval authors as addressing us across the centuries about
some timeless or ahistorical 'human condition', critics from a wide
range of theoretical approaches have in recent years shown how the
work of poets such as Chaucer constituted engagements with the
power relations and social inequalities of their time. Yet, perhaps
surprisingly, medieval historians have played little part in this
'historical turn' in the study of medieval literature. The aim of
this volume is to allow historians who are experts in the fields of
economic, social, political, religious, and intellectual history
the chance to interpret one of the most famous works of Middle
English literature, Geoffrey Chaucer's 'General Prologue' to the
Canterbury Tales, in its contemporary context. Rather than
resorting to traditional historical attempts to see Chaucer's
descriptions of the Canterbury pilgrims as immediate reflections of
historical reality or as portraits of real-life people whom Chaucer
knew, the contributors to this volume have sought to show what
interpretive frameworks were available to Chaucer in order to make
sense of reality and how he adapted his literary and ideological
inheritance so as to engage with the controversies and conflicts of
his own day. Beginning with a survey of recent debates about the
social meaning of Chaucer's work, the volume then discusses each of
the Canterbury pilgrims in turn. Historians on Chaucer should be of
interest to all scholars and students of medieval culture whether
they are specialists in literature or history,
As literary scholars have long insisted, an interdisciplinary
approach is vital if modern readers are to make sense of works of
medieval literature. In particular, rather than reading the works
of medieval authors as addressing us across the centuries about
some timeless or ahistorical 'human condition', critics from a wide
range of theoretical approaches have in recent years shown how the
work of poets such as Chaucer constituted engagements with the
power relations and social inequalities of their time. Yet, perhaps
surprisingly, medieval historians have played little part in this
'historical turn' in the study of medieval literature. The aim of
this volume is to allow historians who are experts in the fields of
economic, social, political, religious, and intellectual history
the chance to interpret one of the most famous works of Middle
English literature, Geoffrey Chaucer's 'General Prologue' to the
Canterbury Tales, in its contemporary context. Rather than
resorting to traditional historical attempts to see Chaucer's
descriptions of the Canterbury pilgrims as immediate reflections of
historical reality or as portraits of real life people whom Chaucer
knew, the contributors to this volume have sought to show what
interpretive frameworks were available to Chaucer in order to make
sense of reality and how he adapted his literary and ideological
inheritance so as to engage with the controversies and conflicts of
his own day. Beginning with a survey of recent debates about the
social meaning of Chaucer's work, the volume then discusses each of
the Canterbury pilgrims in turn. Historians on Chaucer should be of
interest to all scholars and students of medieval culture whether
they are specialists in literature or history.
Geoffrey Chaucer is the best-known and most widely read of all
medieval British writers, famous for his scurrilous humour and
biting satire against the vices and absurdities of his age. Yet he
was also a poet of passionate love, sensitive to issues of gender
and sexual difference, fascinated by the ideological differences
between the pagan past and the Christian present, and a man of
science, knowledgeable in astronomy, astrology and alchemy. This
concise book is an ideal starting point for study of all his major
poems, particularly The Canterbury Tales, to which two chapters are
devoted. It offers close readings of individual texts, presenting
various possibilities for interpretation, and includes discussion
of Chaucer's life, career, historical context and literary
influences. An account of the various ways in which he has been
understood over the centuries leads into an up-to-date, annotated
guide to further reading.
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