Medieval Reading: Grammar, Rhetoric and the Classical Text (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 27) - Hardcover

Reynolds, Suzanne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521472571 ISBN 13: 9780521472579

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Synopsis

This book investigates how people learned to read in the Middle Ages. It uses glosses--medieval teachers' notes--on classical Latin texts to show how these complex works were used in a very basic and literal way in the classroom, and argues that this has profound implications for our understanding of medieval literacy and hermeneutics. Suzanne Reynolds discusses issues including the relationship of Latin and vernacular languages, the role of classical texts in medieval culture, ideas of allegory in the Middle Ages, and medieval literary theory.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This book argues for a radically new approach to the history of reading and literacy in the Middle Ages. It investigates the use of complex literary texts as the basis of elementary instruction in the Latin language and, using medieval teachers' notes (glosses) on a classical text (Horace's Satires) and a selection of other unpublished manuscript materials, it demonstrates that the reading of classical literature was profoundly shaped by the demands of acquiring Latin literacy through the arts of grammar and rhetoric. The resolutely literal readings of Latin texts found in these educational and institutional contexts call for a reassessment of the relationship of Latin and vernacular discourses in medieval culture, and of some central notions in medieval hermeneutics, notably allegory and authorial intention.

Review

"Linguists will find much of value in [Reynolds's] close examination of these grammatical practices, while literary historians will at least find new support for some established ideas in this book's final chapters." Robert S. Sturges, Arthuriana

"Medieval Reading is a treasure of a book. It is so well executed, in every regard..." Ralph Hexter, Modern Philology

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0521472571
• ISBN 13: 9780521472579
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256