The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 10)

The Book of Memory is a wide-ranging and beautifully illustrated account of the workings and function of memory in medieval society. Memory was the psychological faculty valued above all others in the period stretching from late antiquity through to the Renaissance. The medieval assumption that human learning is above all based in memorative processes had profound implications for the contemporary understanding of all creative activity, and the social role of literature and art. Dr Carruthers looks at models for the understanding of memory, examines scholastic and early humanist adaptations of classical mnemotechniques, and throughout offers examples from the works of Dante, Chaucer, Aquinas and others. This study by a literary scholar draws upon insights from a variety of disciplines, including modern hermeneutical theory, art history and codicology, psychology and anthropology, the histories of medicine, education, and of meditation and spirituality. It will be important to students in all these fields who value interdisciplinary approaches to historical material.