Abstraction haunts medieval art, both withdrawing figuration and suggesting elusive presence. How does it make or destroy meaning in the process? Does it suggest the failure of figuration, the faltering of iconography? Does medieval abstraction function because it is imperfect, incomplete, and uncorrected-and therefore cognitively, visually demanding? Is it, conversely, precisely about perfection? To what extent is the abstract predicated on theorization of the unrepresentable and imperceptible? Does medieval abstraction pit aesthetics against metaphysics, or does it enrich it, or frame it, or both? Essays in this collection explore these and other questions that coalesce around three broad themes: medieval abstraction as the untethering of the image from what it purports to represent; abstraction as a vehicle for signification; and abstraction as a form of figuration. Contributors approach the concept of medieval abstraction from a multitude of perspectives-formal, semiotic, iconographic, material, phenomenological, epistemological.

Secret codes. Daring escapes. Rescue missions. Bounty Hunters. Lynchings. Betrayal. Sexual obsession. Conspiracy theories. Cloak-and-dagger intrigue. Mysterious strangers who appear in the midnight hour ... Courage beyond anything we could imagine, demonstrated by the slaves of Africa who faced the darkness and unknown terror with resilience and faith, and those brave individuals and churches who defied the hunters to protect the hunted. Some risked everything - their fortune, even their lives - drawing out an intensity of Christian conviction rarely seen. And the dangerous songs ... songs that passed on secret messages that meant life and death for slaves about to escape, to outrun the patrols, posses and gunmen who would be like hellhounds on their trail. This gripping and compelling record reveals the perilous exploits of America's runaway slaves, and an investigation into their astounding music: Spirituals and Blues. Their music, born in slavery and oppression, gave the world a beat that would change the global musical landscape forever.