内容简介

The senses and their understanding by the medieval laity is an exciting arena in which many authors of the golden age of Middle English vernacular literature exercised their exegetical ability and literary craftsmanship. This book examines the representation of the divine by the anonymous fourteenth-century Pearl-poet, through a close reading of his three “scriptural” Middle English poems, Cleanness, Patience and Pearl, against the background of the culture of sensorium in late medieval England.

In this book, individual corporeal senses and general ideas about sensory perception will be investigated, as well as the non-physical senses. By bringing the Pearl-poet’s treatment of the sensorium－both of God and of humans－into the focus of attention, Dr Bao illustrates how human interpretation of sense-perceptible signs, and their decision to regulate sensory experience accordingly, play a significant role in the poet’s “vernacular theology”, and in the spiritual life of late medieval English laity.

14世纪中古英语头韵复兴运动中的翘楚诗人“珍珠”的全部作品仅有一份手稿存世（大英图书馆柯顿·尼禄A.x手稿）。本书立足于对《珍珠》手稿中三首基于经文的长诗（《清洁》《坚忍》《珍珠》）之中古英语原文的训诂和细读，研究“珍珠”诗人对神性的理解，并探讨诗人对中世纪感官文化及相关思想史背景的反刍。

无论在理论或实践层面,感官及对感官认知的态度在中世纪人道德、宗教、情感模式的形成中都扮演关键的角色，深入研究感官文化的一个重要途径就是文学作品。本书每一章节聚焦《珍珠》手稿的一部作品，研究其中示例人物如何通过规范自己的感官经验，将“抑肉扬灵”的古典感官论中被贬抑的“身体感官”转化为一种通往救赎的路径。本书还将通过探讨“内感官”“精神感官”“神秘感官”等概念在文本中的呈现，比较中世纪感官论与现代感官论的关键差异。作者在语文学—文学解读的基础上，同时考察8—15世纪手抄本中对感官的图像学表述，试图梳理并书写一种形成于图文互动过程中的文学感官史。

作品目录

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements iiiList of Abbreviations v
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction1
I. General Introduction and Aims of Research 1
II. The Pearl-Poet and the Medieval Sensorium4
III. Historical and Ecclesiastical Milieu 9
IV. Contemporary Religious Writings 19
V. Ambiguous Divinity: The Pearl-Poet’s Representation 33
CHAPTER TWO:Cleanness: The Dialectics of Visio Dei, and Ocular Scepticism 40
I. Theme, Structure and Sources 40
II. God Seeing and Being Seen: The Dialectics of Visio Dei 52
III. Seeing, Touching and Believing: Sensorial Scepticism 72
IV. Conclusion 88
CHAPTER THREE:Patience: Auditory Epiphanies and the Dialogics of Interaction 91
I. Overview and Sources 91
II. The Epiphany of the Ear 98
III. Jonah’s Voice 116
IV. Conclusion 139
CHAPTER FOUR:Pearl: The Sensory Itinerary towards Jerusalem 145
I. Descent in the Erber: Corporeal Perception154
II. Advance in the Terrestrial Paradise: Spiritual Perception 169
III. Ascent toward the Heavenly City: Mystical or Psychosomatic Perception 188
IV. Conclusion 205
CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusion211
Bibliography 222
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作者简介

Huiyi Bao (PhD, University College Dublin) is Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Fudan University. Her research focuses on Old and Middle English poetry, and on the textual-pictorial engagement in illustrated medieval manuscripts. She is the author of one monograph in Chinese, The Art of Middle English Lyrics (2018), and of more than ten peer-reviewed journal art...

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