The Book of Memory

Abstract

Mary Carruthers's classic study of the training and uses of memory for a variety of purposes in European cultures during the Middle Ages has fundamentally changed the way scholars understand medieval culture. This fully revised and updated second edition considers afresh all the material and conclusions of the first. While responding to new directions in research inspired by the original, this new edition devotes much more attention to the role of trained memory in composition, whether of literature, music, architecture, or manuscript books. The new edition will reignite the debate on memory in medieval studies and, like the first, will be essential reading for scholars of history, music, the arts and literature, as well as those interested in issues of orality and literacy (anthropology), in the working and design of memory (both neuropsychology and artificial memory), and in the disciplines of meditation (religion).

Reading and meditation in the Middle Ages: Lectio divina and books of hours

“…One crucial reason for the unaltered primacy of memory is its fundamental role in the formation of moral virtue. In line with this general disposition, medieval ideology and habits of reading were profoundly linked with mnemonic activity (Carruthers 1990;Illich 1993). Reading was thought to allow the incorporation of the text into one's self, which would prelude the exercise of memory.…”

“…Landmark historical studies of the Middle Ages have revealed that medieval culture was profoundly memorial and remained so even as the use and di¤usion of books increased (Carruthers 1990;Lackner and Philip 1978;Yates 1966). One crucial reason for the unaltered primacy of memory is its fundamental role in the formation of moral virtue.…”

The Visual and Material Dimensions of Legitimacy: Accounting and the Search for Socie-ties

“…Symmetry has characterized the search for common good from mediaeval to early modern time (Carruthers, 1990;1998). This 'aesth-etics' of symmetry builds a key link between visual and material representations and concerns of moral legitimacy as proportionate social relationships.…”

Depictions of Virtues and Vices as Mnemonic Devices

“…The ad res helps remembering the main idea or topic of what wants to be reminded and allows the person to explain the text in its own words. 90 When reading, first one sees the graphical representation and then the verses. The image allows us to know the verses in advance.…”