Medieval Literary Theory and Criticism c. 1100-c. 1375: The Commentary Tradition ed. by A. J. Minnis, A. B. Scott (review)

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER help us clarify our experience as readers and is likely to prove useful in teaching, but he spends too much time reformulating old questions. WINTHROP WETHERBEE Cornell University A.J. MINNIS and A. B. SCOTT, eds., with the assistance of DAVID WAL­ LACE. Medieval Literary Theory and Criticism c. 1100-c. 1375: The Commentary Tradition. Oxford and New York: Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1988. Pp. xvi, 538. $125.00 £65.00. "I wish to recall literary criticism from certain fashionable, new-fangled ways of thinking it has been seduced by ...and return it to the ancient paths which it has abandoned," writes Terry Eagleton in his Literary Theory: An Introduction (p. 206). Thanks to the editors of this volume of medieval literary theory and criticism, we are able to appreciate the quality of these ancient paths which, to his discredit,J.WH. Atkins in his English Literary Criticism: The Medieval Phase, considered "unavailing and fruit­ less" to tread. One ofthe many benefits of this new book is the opportunity it provides to compare the differences and similarities between medieval and modern literary theory and criticism. The time-span of the book is significant, from around 1100, when teachers in medieval grammar-schools began to deal formally with the proliferation of introductory lectures to thegrammarians' commentarieson their authors (sometimesknown as accessus), to about 1375, when Boccac­ cio died and Benvenuto da lmola lectured on Dante at Bologna. The intervening years saw the development of critical methodologies which weregradually enriched by theadoption oftheoriesderived from Aristotle, in particular the Physics and Metaphysics, rather than (surprisingly) the Poetics. Put simplistically, the interest in God's authorship of Scripture, which until the twelfth century had exclusively dominated exegetical analysis, was joined by an interest in the human authors of Scripture. "Although technically subservient, these writers were supposed to have acted personally and with a measure of independence" (p. 3). In this activity, humanism and scholasticism played complementary roles. The book has ten chapters. The first contains an anthology of literary prefaces, which dealt with such issues as the life of the writer (e.g., "When 218 REVIEWS Cato the censor saw that young men and girls were living very wicked lives he wrote this book [theDisticha Catonis], to his son"); the title (e.g., Ovid's Episto/a ("letter") means "sent aloft," because it sends words "aloft"); the intention, as wellas, where it applies, thenature ofthe verse; thenumber of the books; the subject-matter; the usefulness of the book, and to what part of philosophy it pertains. Not all these issues are addressed in the indi­ vidual prefaces, but usually they describe the life ofthe author, the title of the book, and the intention. The second chapter contains "A Critical Colloquy," based on the work of Conrad of Hirsau (c. 1070-c.1159?). It takes the form of an interview between a pupil and a rather bossy teacher ("Well, listen then"), who answers the pupil's questions (e.g., "Tell me then, what is subject-matter, intention, and final cause"), and always stresses the morality ofstudy ("any progress beyond other men in the liberal arts is useless if you still cultivate the vices..." (p. 64). The next chapter concerns "Scriptural Allegory and Authority," with extracts from Hugh ofSaint-Victor, Peter Abelard, and Peter Lombard, all of whom offered theories as to how Scripture conveyed its meaning, with warnings abour the authority of non-scriptural writings from Augustine, for instance, whom Peter Abelard cites: "Do not slavishly follow my writings as if they were canonical Scripture" (p. 96). The truthfulness of different modes of text is taken up in the fourth chapter, on "Poetic Fiction and Truth," with extracts from William of Conches and his School, "Bernard Silvester," Arnulf of Orleans, and Ralph ofLongchamps. Here, as in the other chapters, it should be noted that the commentaries deal with modern as well as ancient authors (and, of course, Scripture). Ralph of Longchamps, for instance, has an illuminating com­ mentary on Alan of Lille's Anticlaudianus. The introduction to Chapter V begins with an arresting citation from Umberto Eco, whose The Name ofthe Rose owes so much to the writings...