skip to content
Job, Boethius, and epic truth Preview this item
ClosePreview this item
  • Preview this Item (Questia)

Job, Boethius, and epic truth

Author: Ann W Astell
Publisher: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
Calling into question the common assumption that the Middle Ages produced no secondary epics, Ann W. Astell here revises a key chapter in literary history. She examines the connections between the Book of Job and Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy - texts closely associated with each other in the minds of medieval readers and writers - and demonstrates that these two works served as a conduit for the tradition of  Read more...
Rating:

(not yet rated) 0 with reviews - Be the first.

 

Find a copy in the library

Retrieving... Finding libraries that hold this item...

Details

Additional Physical Format: Online version:
Astell, Ann W.
Job, Boethius, and epic truth.
Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994
(OCoLC)647058901
Named Person: Boethius; Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Ann W Astell
ISBN: 0801429110 9780801429118
OCLC Number: 28674982
Description: xv, 240 p. ; 24 cm.
Contents: Allegories of Logos and Eros --
Boethius and epic truth --
Job and heroic virtue --
Hagiographic romance --
Boethian lovers --
Ghostly chivalry --
The Miltonic trilogy.
Responsibility: Ann W. Astell.

Abstract:

Calling into question the common assumption that the Middle Ages produced no secondary epics, Ann W. Astell here revises a key chapter in literary history. She examines the connections between the Book of Job and Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy - texts closely associated with each other in the minds of medieval readers and writers - and demonstrates that these two works served as a conduit for the tradition of heroic poetry from antiquity through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. As she traces the complex influences of classical and biblical texts on vernacular literature, Astell offers provocative readings of works by Dante, Chaucer, Spenser, Malory, Milton, and many others. Astell looks at the relationship between the historical reception of the epic and successive imitative forms, showing how Boethius' Consolation and Joban biblical commentaries echo the allegorical treatment of "epic truth" in the poems of Homer and Virgil, and how in turn many works classified as "romance" take Job and Boethius as their models. She considers the influences of Job and Boethius on hagiographic romance, as exemplified by the stories of Eustace, Custance, and Griselda; on the amatory romances of Abelard and Heloise, Dante and Beatrice, and Troilus and Criseyde; and on the chivalric romances of Martin of Tours, Galahad, Lancelot, and Redcrosse. Finally, she explores an encyclopedic array of interpretations of Job and Boethius in Milton's Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes.

Reviews

User-contributed reviews
Retrieving weRead reviews...
Retrieving GoodReads reviews...
Retrieving Amazon reviews...

Tags

Be the first.
Confirm this request

You may have already requested this item. Please select Ok if you would like to proceed with this request anyway.

Close Window

Please sign in to WorldCat 

Don't have an account? You can easily create a free account.