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.
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。
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-poets 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 poets vernacular theology, and in the spiritual life of late medieval English laity.
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 articles both in English and in Chinese. Medievalist, poet and literary translator, she has published two books of poetry, A Pagan Book of Hours 2012 and I Sit on the Edge of the Volcano 2016; one book of essays, Annal of the Emerald Isle 2015; and one book of criticism, Scriptorium 2018. She is the translator of twelve books from English to Chinese, including Complete Poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Ariel by Sylvia Plath, Good Bones by Margaret Atwood, and Immram and Isle: Works of Four Contemporary Irish Poets. She was awarded the China Bookstore Prize, DJS-Poetry East West Award, and Literature Ireland Translators Bursary. She taught at Trinity College Dublin before joining Fudan, and is currently vice-director of the China-Australia Creative Writing Centre CAWC at Fudan, and editor-in-chief of Homings and Departures: Selected Poems from Contemporary China and Australia 2018.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 articles both in English and in Chinese. Medievalist, poet and literary translator, she has published two books of poetry, A Pagan Book of Hours 2012 and I Sit on the Edge of the Volcano 2016; one book of essays, Annal of the Emerald Isle 2015; and one book of criticism, Scriptorium 2018. She is the translator of twelve books from English to Chinese, including Complete Poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Ariel by Sylvia Plath, Good Bones by Margaret Atwood, and Immram and Isle: Works of Four Contemporary Irish Poets. She was awarded the China Bookstore Prize, DJS-Poetry East West Award, and Literature Ireland Translators Bursary. She taught at Trinity College Dublin before joining Fudan, and is currently vice-director of the China-Australia Creative Writing Centre CAWC at Fudan, and editor-in-chief of Homings and Departures: Selected Poems from Contemporary China and Australia 2018.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements iiiList of Abbreviations v
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction1
I. General Introduction and Aims of Research1
II. The Pearl-Poet and the Medieval Sensorium4
III. Historical and Ecclesiastical Milieu9
IV. Contemporary Religious Writings19
V. Ambiguous Divinity: The Pearl-Poets Representation 33
CHAPTER TWO:Cleanness: The Dialectics of Visio Dei, and Ocular Scepticism 40
I. Theme, Structure and Sources40
II. God Seeing and Being Seen: The Dialectics of Visio Dei 52
III. Seeing, Touching and Believing: Sensorial Scepticism 72
IV. Conclusion88
CHAPTER THREE:Patience: Auditory Epiphanies and the Dialogics of Interaction 91
I. Overview and Sources91
II. The Epiphany of the Ear98
III. Jonahs Voice116
IV. Conclusion139
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. Conclusion205
CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusion211
Bibliography222
內容試閱:
Acknowledgements
This book began as a doctoral dissertation presented to University College Dublin under the supervision of Doctor Niamh Pattwell and Professor Mary Clayton, to whom my most heart-felt gratitude goes. When I was writing my research proposal from China in 2010, I could never have imagined the kindness and generosity I was going to be showered with by them in the coming years. Without their constant and conscientious devotion of time, professional guidance, generosity with books and spiritual support, this book could never have taken shape the way it has. In their different ways, Niamh and Mary have been beacons during my PhD years, the light from which kept illumining my road long after I left Ireland.
Since then, many have witnessed the slow but steady metamorphosis from thesis to book of the current manuscript. Professor Vincent Gillespie and Dr Rebecca Stephenson, respectively my external and internal examiners, both gave valuable suggestions at my PhD viva, from which I have profited much. My gratitude also goes to: Dr Jane Grogan, Dr John Braniggan and Dr Naomi McAreavey who were on my doctoral transfer panel; Professor Danielle Clarke who then acted as Head of the School of English, Drama and Film; as well as every academic and administrative member at UCD who has helped me in one way or another. My friend Shimeng Zhou saw me through the darkest stage of writing with her exquisite Szechuan-style cuisine; Dr Lijing Peng and I shared many dreamy afternoons in the National Library of Ireland. I would also like to thank the following scholars and friends for their support during the PhD odyssey: Professor Harry Clifton, Professor Alan Fletcher, Dr Darragh Greene, Dr Sarah Nangle, Dr Sabine Rauch, Dr Fangzhe Qiu, Dr Wei Feng, Dr Jun Su, Huan Zhang, Huaidong Wang and Dr Yingyun Wang.
I gratefully acknowledge the UCD-CSC Scheme as my chief funding source in Ireland. I also received a Translators Bursary from Literature Ireland and the Centre for Literary Translation, Trinity College Dublin, where I taught as Associate Researcher.
The publication of this book has been aided by Shanghai Pujiang Program [16PJC005], and by a grant from the College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Fudan University, where I currently teach as Assistant Professor. My deep gratitude goes to Professor Weiguo Qu, Dean of the College, who has been a great support in many different aspects. I also wish to thank Professor Zheng Tan, who has always been generous with his scholarship, encouragement and help; Professor Xiaoquan Chu, who gave much assistance in my attempt to enlarge the
medieval corner of the college library; Professor Lian Lu, who has
been an inspiration since my undergraduate years; Professors Gengxin Su and Qiong Zhang, who have offered very useful pedagogical advice in the courses we co-teach; Associate Professors Jianxin Zhu and Feng Duan, who helped me with creating a brand new undergraduate course, Reading Medieval English Literature. Friendship with members of
the poetry workshop Rose of Sharon, particularly with Associate
Professor Linjing Jiang and Dr Jie Chen, has been an inexhaustible source of joy and strength in the past three years.
Yunsong Tang, vice editor-in-chief at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, has been extremely helpful with setting this book manuscript to print, as has my editor Huanxin Liu, whose patience never fails.
Finally, I wish to thank my family for their unchanging support for whatever I chose to do with my life. My father, tens of thousands of miles away during my years in Ireland, with whom I spent little time but from whom I received endless love and understanding, passed away from cancer eight months after I returned to Shanghai, leaving a blank in my life which can never be filled. This book is dedicated to his memory. My mother underwent unimaginable hardship in the years of my absence, and my beloved husband Peng Xie performed many family duties on my behalf. Thank you both for having constant faith in me and being my lasting sources of strength.
Shanghai, July, 2018.