Nature, Sex, and Goodness in a Medieval Literary Tradition [Hardcover]

Hugh White (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198187300 | ISBN-13: 978-0198187301 | Publication Date: January 25, 2001 | Edition: First Edition, First Printing

This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how--particularly in the erotic sphere--the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Hugh White demonstrates convincingly that the concept of Nature inherited from the classical period and developed throughout the Middle Ages was morally equivocal. Modern Language Review Characterized by meticulous and undogmatic scholarship, Hugh White's book will be an indispensable guide to the contradictoriness of Nature in medieval literature ... Nature, Sex, and Goodness is a thoughtful, widely informed, open-minded book with a rare cohesion of purpose. Eschewing new historicist and other theoretical discourses, it moves tenaciously and lucidly among primary sources in a way that C. S. Lewis would have approved, while calculatedly shaking up the very medieval 'world view' Lewis helped to construct. MEDIUM AEVUM Readers will be indebted to White not only for the meticulous and scholarly manner in which he presents his case, but also for the clarity and assurance of his writing. This is complemented by high standards of printing and presentation. Review of English Studies This is an interesting book, which provides a full and convincing account of a significant tradition in medieval writing. Review of English Studies User-friendly in more ways than one: it thoughtfully provides the dates of the writers it cites, as well as generous quotations from the primary sources, and indications of the secondary sources, which appear both in the footnotes and in the References section. Notes and Queries

About the Author

Hugh White is CUF Lecturer in English, University of Oxford, and Fellow and Tutor in English, St Catherine's College, Oxford.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First Edition, First Printing edition (January 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198187300
• ISBN-13: 978-0198187301
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,285,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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