Chasing the Pearl-Manuscript : Speculation, Shapes, Delight.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bahr, Arthur.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

British Library--Manuscript--Cotton Nero A. x.

British Library.

Pearl (Middle English poem).

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Patience (Middle English poem).

Purity (Middle English poem).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (292 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2025.

Summary:

A unique study of the only physical manuscript containing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as both a material and literary object. In this book, Arthur Bahr takes a fresh look at the four poems and twelve illustrations of the so-called “Pearl-Manuscript,” the only surviving medieval copy of two of the best-known Middle English poems: Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In Chasing the Pearl-Manuscript, Bahr explores how the physical manuscript itself enhances our perception of the poetry, drawing on recent technological advances (such as spectroscopic analysis) to show the Pearl-Manuscript to be a more complex piece of material, visual, and textual art than previously understood. By connecting the manuscript’s construction to the intricate language in the texts, Bahr suggests new ways to understand both what poetry is and what poetry can do.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ONE. IN PRAISE OF SPECULATION

TWO. THE EXPANDING SINGULARITY OF PEARL

THREE. LAYERS OF TIME

FOUR. SHAPING DELIGHT IN CLEANNESS

FIVE (MID)POINTS OF INTEREST

SIX. TOUCHING PATIENCE

SEVEN. SPECULATIVE GEOMETRY

EIGHT. CHASING SIR GAWAIN'S ENDLESS KNOT

FINAL REFLECTIONS The Pearl-Manuscript as Broken Kaleidoscope

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780226835365

0226835367

OCLC:

1499931963