Dreams, medicine, and literary practice : exploring the Western literary tradition through Chaucer / by Tanya S. Lenz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lenz, Tanya S.

Contributor:

Constance L. Rosenthal Book Fund.

Series:

Cursor mundi ; v. 18.

Cursor Mundi ; 18

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400--Criticism and interpretation.

Chaucer, Geoffrey.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400.

Dreams in literature.

Medicine in literature.

Healing in literature.

Literature and medicine.

Poetry--Psychological aspects.

Poetry.

Medicine in Literature.

History of Medicine.

Criticism and interpretation.

Medical Subjects:

Medicine in Literature.

History of Medicine.

Physical Description:

209 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout, Belgium : Brepols, [2014]

Summary:

This volume explores the intersection of dreams, medicine, and literary practice in the poetry of Chaucer and influential literary works from antiquity through the late fourteenth century. An introductory exploration considers topics such as Asclepian dream healings of ancient Greece, Old English poetry, medieval mystics, and foundational works by Hippocrates, Aristotle, Galen, Avicenna, Macrobius, and others. Detailed analyses of a series of Chaucer's poems follow. Frequently incorporating and commenting on antecedent works, these late medieval poems span various genres including the dream-vision, the romance-tragedy, and the comic tale. Dreams and medicine are woven into the fabric of these texts, the author contends, revealing distinct and often surprising insights. One such insight is the 'double potential' of literary practice, medicine, and dreams - that is, each is capable of facilitating healing and wholeness yet equally capable of causing harm and disease.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Chaucer, Literary Asclepian: Late Antique Dream Theory and the Book of the Duchess 21

Chapter 2 'God turne us every drem to goode!' Dreams, Transformation, and Medicine in the House of Fame 51

Chapter 3 'The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne': The Parliament of Fowls 73

Chapter 4 Literary Lechecraft: Contagion and Cure in Troilus and Criseyde 101

Chapter 5 'Thy litel wit aslepe': The Prologue to the Legend of Good Women 131

Chapter 6 Ravishing the Dream: The Nun's Priest's Tale 155.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Constance L. Rosenthal Book Fund.

ISBN:

2503534813

9782503534817

OCLC:

838451646

Publisher Number:

99961214282