Ancient and Medieval Memories: Studies in the Reconstruction of the Past

by Janet Coleman

Book Overview

This book is an analysis of thinking, remembering and reminiscing according to ancient authors, and their medieval readers. The author argues that behind the various medieval methods in interpreting texts of the past lie two apparently incompatible theories of human knowledge and remembering, as well as two differing attitudes to matter and intellect. The book comprises a series of studies which take ancient texts as evidence of the past, and show how medieval readers and writers understood them. The studies confirm that medieval and renaissance interpretations and uses of the past differ greatly from modern interpretation and yet betray many startling continuities between modern and ancient and medieval theories.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521019370
• ISBN13: 9780521019378
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 668 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"