The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture
- Author / Editor
- Carruthers, Mary (J.)
The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture
- Published
- Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
- Series
- Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, no. 10.
- Description
- In an interdisciplinary study drawing upon "modern hermeneutical theory; art history and codicology; psychology and anthropology; the histories of medicine, education, and of meditation and spirituality," Carruthers posits that "medieval culture was fundamentally memorial."
- Eventually books and documentaries replaced "memoria," and later centuries held imagination in higher esteem than memory; but for the Middle Ages, the book--itself mnemonic--was but one method to keep a text in the memory, the memory being an integral and most important aspect of learning.
- Carruthers examines two models "whereby memory is conceived in terms of a tablet awaiting inscription or a storehouse or inventory"; she discusses the artificial intelligence of memory systems and considers "the ethical and literary values attached to memory training" by reference to Hugh of Saint Victor, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Bradwardine, Thomas Aquinas, Dante and Chaucer.
- "Memoria" was central to intelligent composition and conversation; moreover, it was a foundation of "character, judgment, citizenship, and piety." Treatments of Chaucer focus on words and images, textual revision, BD, HF, TC, and SumT.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Summoner and His Tale.
- Book of the Duchess.
- House of Fame.
- Troilus and Criseyde.
- Background and General Criticism.