Preaching and narrative in Piers Plowman / Alastair Bennett.
| Author/creator | Bennett, Alastair |
| Other author | Oxford University Press. |
| Format | Electronic |
| Publication Info | Oxford ; New York NY : Oxford University Press, [2023] |
| Description | x, 260 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm. |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from Oxford Scholarship Online |
| Subjects |
| Series | Oxford studies in medieval literature and culture Oxford studies in medieval literature and culture. ^A1389022 |
| Contents | Preaching on the coronation : the prologue and the Sermon of Conscience -- Preaching on the half-acre : fear, hope, and narrative in the second version -- Preachers and minstrels : Studys' complaint and the feast of conscience -- Preaching on the lifetime : sermons and the 'self-constant' subject in Piers Plowman -- Histories of the self, the world, and the sermon : anima and the Tree of Charity. |
| Abstract | "William Langland's Piers Plowman was written and read during a "golden age" of English preaching. The poem describes a world where sermons took many different forms and were delivered in many different contexts, from public events in the life of the realm to pastoral instruction in the parish. It dramatises preaching as part of its allegorical action, showing how sermons shaped their listeners' understanding of the world; it also includes polemical critique of corrupt, self-interested preaching, and offers radical prescriptions for its reform. This book argues that Langland's central insight into the way that sermons moved and engaged their audiences had to do with their characteristic use of narrative. Preachers in the poem address listeners who are absorbed in the concerns of their present moment, and encourage them to new forms of social and spiritual endeavour by locating that moment in a larger, interpreted plot: the story of an individual life, or an emergent community, or of salvation history as a whole. The book employs a critical vocabulary derived from Paul Ricoeur to describe the process by which these narratives are composed, and to show how they mediate and reconfigure their listeners' experiences"--Jacket. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-254) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Funding information | Includes texts in Middle English and Latin. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2023935841 |
| ISBN | 9780192886262 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0192886266 (hardcover) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |