Job, Boethius, and epic truth

by Astell, Ann W.

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Title Statements

Full title :Job, Boethius, and epic truth / Ann W. Astell.

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 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

Edition Statements

Publication Date:1994.

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):Cornell University Press
Place of Publication:Ithaca
Language:eng
Publication Date:1994.

The Physical Object

Description:xiii, 240 pages ; : 23 cm

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:1501743163, 9781501743160
oclc:on1090918505
Dewey Decimal:809.132

Allegories of Logos and Eros -- Boethius and epic truth -- Job and heroic virtue -- Hagiographic romance -- Boethian lovers -- Ghostly chivalry -- The Miltonic trilogy.

Subjects

Bible Bible., Job Boethius Criticism, interpretation, etc De consolatione philosophiae (Boethius) Epic literature -- History and criticism History Imitation (Littérature) Imitation in literature Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) Influence littéraire, artistique, etc Literary form Literary form -- History -- To 1500 Literature Literature, Medieval -- Classical influ… Littérature épique -- Histoire et criti… Littérature médiévale -- Influence anci… To 1500 Typologie (Théologie) dans la littératu… Typology (Theology) in literature