Literary scholars often avoid the category of the aesthetic in discussions of ethics, believing that purely aesthetic judgments can vitiate analyses of a literary work’s sociopolitical heft and meaning. In Practicing Literary Theory in the Middle Ages, Eleanor Johnson reveals that aesthetics—the formal aspects of literary language that make it sense-perceptible—are indeed inextricable from ethics in the writing of medieval literature.   Johnson brings a keen formalist eye to bear on the prosimetric form: the mixing of prose with lyrical poetry. This form descends from the writings of the sixth-century Christian philosopher Boethius—specifically his famous prison text, Consolation of Philosophy—to the late medieval English tradition. Johnson argues that Boethius’s text had a broad influence not simply on the thematic and philosophical content of subsequent literary writing, but also on the specific aesthetic construction of several vernacular traditions. She demonstrates the underlying prosimetric structures in a variety of Middle English texts—including Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and portions of the Canterbury Tales, Thomas Usk’s Testament of Love, John Gower’s Confessio amantis, and Thomas Hoccleve’s autobiographical poetry—and asks how particular formal choices work, how they resonate with medieval literary-theoretical ideas, and how particular poems and prose works mediate the tricky business of modeling ethical transformation for a readership.

Practicing Literary Theory in the Middle Ages: Ethics and the Mixed Form in Chaucer, Gower, Usk, and Hoccleve

Literature & Fiction

Johnson, Eleanor

British & Irish

University of Chicago Press

Staging Contemplation: Participatory Theology in Middle English Prose, Verse, and Drama

Product Description What does it mean to contemplate? In the Middle Ages, more than merely thinking with intensity, it was a religious practice entailing utter receptiveness to the divine presence. Contemplation is widely considered by scholars today to have been the highest form of devotional prayer, a rarified means of experiencing God practiced only by the most devout of monks, nuns, and mystics. Yet, in this groundbreaking new book, Eleanor Johnson argues instead for the pervasiveness and accessibility of contemplative works to medieval audiences. By drawing together ostensibly diverse literary genres—devotional prose, allegorical poetry, cycle dramas, and morality plays—Staging Contemplation paints late Middle English contemplative writing as a broad genre that operated collectively and experientially as much as through radical individual disengagement from the world. Johnson further argues that the contemplative genre played a crucial role in the exploration of the English vernacular as a literary and theological language in the fifteenth century, tracing how these works engaged modes of disfluency—from strained syntax and aberrant grammar, to puns, slang, code-switching, and laughter—to explore the limits, norms, and potential of English as a devotional language. Full of virtuoso close readings, this book demonstrates a sustained interest in how poetic language can foster a participatory experience of likeness to God among lay and devotional audiences alike. Review "Johnson presents precise, dynamic readings of late-medieval religious English writings (prose, poetry, and drama) that she groups as 'contemplative' literature. . . . every page of this book has something cogent and new to show concerning how these works deploy English poetics to widen the horizons of 'contemplative' piety in the world." ― CHOICE"Staging Contemplation is an engaging, bracing read, full of interest for students and scholars not only of medieval drama but of Middle English religious writing generally. The book’s approach to a wide range of canonical works is so original because its author sees these texts, as blind Gloucester says to mad King Lear on the blasted heath, 'feelingly.'" ― Modern Philology“In her fine new book, Eleanor Johnson argues for the essentially performative character of the late Middle English literature of Christian contemplation and the essentially cognitive character of the sensory contemplative experience it seeks to further. Situating its readings carefully in the historical moment when English was most conscious of its status as a vernacular, the book moves easily between deft analyses of the style of contemplative texts and scripts and the effects these seek to produce in, and on, their readers and audiences. Staging Contemplation will energize the study and enlarge the readership of some of the most remarkable works of the English literary tradition.” -- Nicholas Watson, Harvard University“Eleanor Johnson’s bold wager in Staging Contemplation pays off richly: let’s think of contemplation as bodily, social, staged, and above all participatory. . . . A beautifully coherent, fresh, and persuasive argument.” -- James Simpson, author of Under the Hammer: Iconoclasm in the Anglo-American Tradition"Eleanor Johnson continues to challenge the traditional separation of cultural, social, and textual spheres to shape a new view of the place and practice of contemplative, lively, and flexible late medieval piety…This is an adept and engaging display of close reading...Even those intimate with these well-digested texts will be stimulated by her reinterpretation.” -- James G. Clark ― Journal of British Studies"Staging Contemplation is an engaging,bracing read, full of interest for students and scholars not only of medieval drama but of Middle English religious writing generally. The book’s approach to a wide range of canonical works is so original because its author sees these texts, as blind Gloucest

History & Criticism

What does it mean to contemplate? In the Middle Ages, more than merely thinking with intensity, it was a religious practice entailing utter receptiveness to the divine presence. Contemplation is widely considered by scholars today to have been the highest form of devotional prayer, a rarified means of experiencing God practiced only by the most devout of monks, nuns, and mystics. Yet, in this groundbreaking new book, Eleanor Johnson argues instead for the pervasiveness and accessibility of contemplative works to medieval audiences. By drawing together ostensibly diverse literary genres—devotional prose, allegorical poetry, cycle dramas, and morality plays—Staging Contemplation paints late Middle English contemplative writing as a broad genre that operated collectively and experientially as much as through radical individual disengagement from the world. Johnson further argues that the contemplative genre played a crucial role in the exploration of the English vernacular as a literary and theological language in the fifteenth century, tracing how these works engaged modes of disfluency—from strained syntax and aberrant grammar, to puns, slang, code-switching, and laughter—to explore the limits, norms, and potential of English as a devotional language. Full of virtuoso close readings, this book demonstrates a sustained interest in how poetic language can foster a participatory experience of likeness to God among lay and devotional audiences alike.

Waste and the Wasters: Poetry and Ecosystemic Thought in Medieval England

Eleanor Johnson is a poet, scholar, translator, and teacher. She studies medieval poetics, ethics, and literary theories. She has taught literature and creative writing at the University of California, Berkeley, and is an Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She has published poetry in the online magazine Shampoo and has a forthcoming collaborative book entitled "Her Many Feathered Bones," from Achiote Press.

The Dwell

Poetry

Scrambler Books

As manufactured goods gradually became more easily available, ladies developed crafts such as needlework, which had previously been an essential skill for making clothing and household linens, to occupy their increased leisure time. A wide variety of useful and novelty tools and accessories, in addition to the former basic necessities, began to be produced, and many people are now interested in these objects and collecting them. Some items have now become quite hard to find and have also become increasingly expensive. Improvements in travel encouraged the growth of tourism and thus stimulated the production of souvenirs for the tourists: some souvenirs took the form of needlework accessories, and these are an important proportion of today's collectors' items. This book illustrates and describes over 200 items used by Victorian and Edwardian ladies in their needlecrafts. The book includes needlecases, scissors, tape-measures, chatelaines, thread waxers, pincushions and thimble.

Needlework and Embroidery Tools (Shire Library)

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

Shire Publications

To many people a thimble may seem to be simply a mundane and commonplace object with unromantic shape and associations, even if the work with which it assists can frequently be exquisite and imaginative. This book will open a door to the charm of the humble thimble in all its variety, from the simple workaday type to the rarer and more exquisite examples that gave scope for artists and craftsmen, and indeed still do. It will give those new to a fascinating collecting field an introduction to the possibilities that exist, including the parallel subject of thimble cases. The more interesting old thimbles are less plentiful than they once were but are still worth searching for in antique shops and antique fairs, while those currently being made and on sale in good gift shops can make a worthy addition to any comprehensive collection.

Thimbles and Thimble Cases (Shire Library)

Shire

As human societies evolved, so clothing became more than just a basic necessity to protect the body from cold. Both men and women used their costume to display their status and wealth. This additional function of dress was from the beginning accompanied by the appearance of a wide variety of complementary accessories. These included perfume and scent bottles, jewellery, buttons, buckles, buttonhooks, hat pins, gloves, handbags, purses, fans, parasols and many other attractive items and, since the First World War, objects associated with make-up and smoking. In this book Eleanor Johnson describes and illustrates many of the items that one may come across.

Ladies Dress Accessories (Shire Library)

History

Americas

Needlework tools: A guide to collecting (Shire album ; 38)

Crafts & Hobbies

Fashion Accessories

Arts & Photography

Decorative Arts & Design

Shire Pubns

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Books by Johnson, Eleanor