Title: Medieval Reading
First published: 1996
Description: This book argues for a radically new approach to the history of reading and literacy in the Middle Ages.

It investigates the use of complex literary texts as the basis of elementary instruction in the Latin language and, using medieval teachers' notes (glosses) on a classical text (Horace's Satires) and a selection of other unpublished manuscript materials, it demonstrates that the reading of classical literature was profoundly shaped by the demands of acquiring Latin literacy through the arts of grammar and rhetoric.

The resolutely literal readings of Latin texts found in these educational and institutional contexts call for a reassessment of the relationship of Latin and vernacular discourses in medieval culture, and of some central notions in medieval hermeneutics, notably allegory and authorial intention.
Subjects: Ancient Rhetoric, Appreciation, Books and reading, Education, Medieval, History, Latin literature, Latin philology, Learning and scholarship, Literacy, Literature, Medieval, Medieval Education, Medieval Literature, Medieval Rhetoric, Middle Ages, Rhetoric, Ancient, Rhetoric, Medieval, Roman influences, Study and teaching, Latin language, grammar, Latin literature, history and criticism, Literature, medieval, history and criticism, Literacy, history, Books and reading, history, Literary criticism, Ancient & classical, Latin language, Grammar
Places: Europe
Time periods: Medieval, 500-1500, To 1500
LC classification: PA2061 .R48 1996