Soul-Health (eBook)

Therapeutic Reading in Later Medieval England

Daniel McCann (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2018
272 Seiten
University of Wales Press (Verlag)
978-1-78683-332-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Soul-Health explores the connection between reading and healing. The act of reading engages deeply with our emotions and psychology, and this book broadens our understanding of that process by the surprising revelation that feeling bad has been understood as the best thing for mental and spiritual health. The mental and emotional impact of reading expanded in the Middle Ages into a therapeutic tool for improving the health of the soul - a state called salus animae - and focusing on later Medieval England, the present study explores a core set of religious texts that identify themselves as treatments for the soul. These same texts, however, evoke powerfully negative emotions. Soul-Health investigates each of these emotions, offering an analysis of how fear, penance, compassion and longing could work to promote the health of the soul, demonstrating how interest in mental and spiritual health far pre-dates the modern period, and is more complex and balanced than simply trying to achieve joy.

Autor

This book will be useful to graduate students (masters and doctoral), final year undergraduates, postdoctoral scholars, and professional academics.

Inhalt

Series Editors’ Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Note on Editions and Translations
Introduction: Cura Animarum
Apprehensive Medicine
Lyrical Treatment
Compassionate Healing
Longing for Health
Dangerous Reading
Conclusion: Sowle-hele
Notes
Select
Bibliography
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.10.2018
• Reihe/Serie: Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Essays / Feuilleton
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
• Schlagworte: England • Health • Later • Medieval • Reading • Soul • Therapeutic
• ISBN-10: 1-78683-332-8 / 1786833328
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78683-332-7 / 9781786833327