Product Description

A companion to Mary Carruthers' earlier study of memory in medieval culture, The Book of Memory, this book, The Craft of Thought, examines medieval monastic meditation as a discipline for making thoughts, and discusses its influence on literature, art, and architecture, deriving examples from a variety of late antique and medieval sources, with excursions into modern architectural memorials. The study emphasizes meditation as an act of literary composition or invention, the techniques of which notably involved both words and making mental "pictures" for thinking and composing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #597137 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 418 pages

Review
"... a wide-ranging text...illuminating for scholars of classical and medieval history, art history, and literature, as well as the more obvious disciplines of theology and rhetoric." Envoi, Natalie Grinnell, Wofford College

"...Carruthers puts forward at a quick pace, a wealth of intuitions and ideas about the function of pictures which are liable to stimulate further research in the fields both of classics and of medieval studies." Classical World

About the Author
Mary Carruthers is the author of The Craft of Thought (Cambridge 1998) and The Medieval Craft of Memory (University of Pennsylvania 2002) as well as of The Book of Memory (1990 and 2008). She divides her time between New York City and Oxford, where she holds the positions of Remarque Professor of Literature at New York University and Fellow of All Souls College.

Customer Reviews

Cultivating Mental Expertise
This interesting but challenging book examines the disciplined mental habits of Christian monks in the period from late antiquity to the early middle ages. Christian monastic traditions evolved in a world quite alien to modern sensibilities. The monasteries themselves were isolated and insular. Daily life was austere and focused on paying homage to God through meditative prayer. Over time, the monks developed a meditative technology that included memory skills, emotional control, and creative expression. These practices are what Professor Carruthers means by The Craft of Thought, and she does an admirable job of helping moderns appreciate the accomplishments of these diligent and inventive ancients.

The book argues that monastic practices were rhetorical devices that lead their followers step by step to a point where they were able to meditate in ways that illuminated the canonical teachings of their faith. Her point that cultural practices can serve rhetorical functions is well illustrated in the book.

The monks were highly disciplined. They developed specialized memory techniques and applied them to learning scriptures. They were skillful in creating and recalling visual images. Meditation put these skills and others in play. First the monk established facilitating conditions - prostrating oneself while weeping, for example - then he recalled scriptures and used them to devise new visions to better capture the glory of God.

The book was a difficult read for me because of my weak background in medieval studies. Professor Carruthers wrote primarily for her colleagues in this area, and so she omitted contextual and historical background information. I also found the organization of her chapters somewhat loose so that the various bits and pieces did not always come together for me. However, overall I was pleased with the book. It gave me a learned scholar's insights into the cognitive techniques of medieval monastic life.