Reason and Imagination in Chaucer, the Perle-Poet, and the Cloud-Author

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Linda Tarte Holley

   Pages 1-34

3. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale: Bookspace as Public Plaza

   • Linda Tarte Holley

   Pages 35-53

4. The House of Fame: “I Wot Myself Best how Y Stonde.”

   • Linda Tarte Holley

   Pages 55-70

5. The Book of the Duchess: The Space of Self

   • Linda Tarte Holley

   Pages 71-89

6. Perle: The Pedagogy of Soul and Self

   • Linda Tarte Holley

   Pages 91-113

7. Patience: The Space of Play

   • Linda Tarte Holley

   Pages 115-134

8. The Cloud of Unknowing: The Dimensionless Space of the Seeking Spirit

   • Linda Tarte Holley

   Pages 135-149

9. Epilogue

   • Linda Tarte Holley

   Pages 151-154

10. Back Matter

    Pages 155-184

    PDF

This collection makes the compelling argument that Chaucer, the Perle -poet, and The Cloud of Unknowing author, exploited analogue and metaphor for marking out the pedagogical gap between science and the imagination. Here, respected contributors add definition to arguments that have our attention and energies in the twenty-first century.

• Chaucer
• Geoffrey Chaucer
• imagination
• metaphor
• pedagogy
• play
• reason
• science
• space
• British and Irish Literature

"Palgrave's The New Middle Ages series puts out thought-provoking and theoretically timely books. Holley's book, too, fulfills that mission . . . Not only is Holley's book thought-provoking in terms of the relation or struggle between reason and imagination and its gaps, but also it suggests that the gaps between the 'modern' and the 'medieval' are not as wide as we think." - The Medieval Review

Linda Tarte Holley is Professor Emerita atNorth Carolina State University. She is the author of Chaucer's Measuring Eye and the co-editor of Closure in the Canterbury Tales.

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