Transmission And Transformation in the Middle Ages ― Texts And Contexts

These ten papers, based on the conviction that texts and ideas moved in medieval societies from one author, era or context to another, transforming with each move, give case studies on how medieval culture was conserved and developed. Inspired by an Irish postgraduate conference for medievalists, the contributors find evidence in the attitudes of medieval translators on literal translation, in antediluvian lore in Irish texts, in the sources of Aelfric's descriptions of animals and his applications, in Giraldus as a natural historian, in Julian of Norwich's visions and revisions, in alchemy and poetics in The Canterbury Tales, in Middle English debates of mortality, in Whittocksmead's approach to compilation and organization as well as identity, and in the Protestant imagery of Piers Plowman. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)