Book

Imagining an English reading public, 1150-1400

Breen, Katharine, 1973-

Overview

\"This original study explores the importance of the concept of habitus - that is, the set of acquired patterns of thought, behaviour and taste that result from internalising culture or objective social structures - in the medieval imagination. Beginning by examining medieval theories of habitus in a general sense, Katharine Breen goes on to investigate the relationships between habitus, language, and Christian virtue. While most medieval pedagogical theorists regarded the habitus of Latin grammar as the gateway to a generalized habitus of virtue, reformers increasingly experimented with vernacular languages that could fulfill the same function. These new vernacular habits, Breen argues, laid the conceptual foundations for an English reading public. Ranging across texts in Latin and several vernaculars, and including a case study of Piers Plowman, this interdisciplinary study will appeal to readers interested in medieval literature, religion and art history, in addition to those interested in the sociological concept of habitus\"--Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Subject: Geistesgeschichte 1150-1400 / Books and reading England History To 1500. / English literature Middle English, 1100-1500 History and criticism. / Latin language, Medieval and modern Social aspects. / English language Middle English, 1100-1500 Social aspects. / Habit Social aspects. / Native language Social aspects.
• ISBN: 9780521199223, 0521199220

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
Z1003.5.G7 B74 2010	1	BOOK	GENERAL