LEADER 04813oam 22005414a 450 001 9910367642403321 005 20250622230224.0 010 $a0-8014-2393-7 010 $a1-5017-3846-1 024 7 $a10.7591/9781501738463 035 $a(CKB)4100000008351080 035 $a(OCoLC)1122607602 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse76400 035 $a(DE-B1597)527364 035 $a(OCoLC)1102798486 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781501738463 035 $a(EXLCZ)994100000008351080 100 $a19890912d1990 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|||||||nn|n 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 14$aThe Idea of the Labyrinth from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages$fPenelope Reed Doob 210 1$aIthaca :$cCornell University Press,$d1990. 210 4$dİ1990. 215 $a1 online resource (xviii, 355 pages) $cillustrations 311 08$a0-8014-8000-0 311 08$a1-5017-3845-3 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFrontmatter --$tContents --$tList of Plates --$tAcknowledgments: Four Labyrinths --$tAbbreviations --$tIntroduction: Charting the Maze --$tPART ONE. The Labyrinth in the Classical and Early Christian Periods --$tCHAPTER ONE. The Literary Witness: Labyrinths in Pliny, Virgil, and Ovid --$tCHAPTER TWO. The Labyrinth as Significant Form: Two Paradigms --$tCHAPTER THREE. A Taxonomy of Metaphorical Labyrinths --$tPART TWO. The Labyrinth in the Middle Ages --$tCHAPTER FOUR. Etymologies and Verbal Implications --$tCHAPTER FIVE. Mazes in Medieval Art and Architecture --$tCHAPTER SIX. Moral Labyrinths in Medieval Literature --$tCHAPTER SEVEN. Textual Labyrinths: Toward a Labyrinthine Aesthetic --$tPART THREE. Labyrinths of Words: Central Texts and Intertextualities --$tCHAPTER EIGHT. Virgil's Aeneid --$tCHAPTER NINE. Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy --$tCHAPTER TEN. Dante's Divine Comedy --$tCHAPTER ELEVEN. Chaucer's House of Fame --$tAPPENDIX. Labyrinths in Manuscripts --$tIndex 330 $aAncient and medieval labyrinths embody paradox, according to Penelope Reed Doob. Their structure allows a double perspective-the baffling, fragmented prospect confronting the maze-treader within, and the comprehensive vision available to those without. Mazes simultaneously assert order and chaos, artistry and confusion, articulated clarity and bewildering complexity, perfected pattern and hesitant process. In this handsomely illustrated book, Doob reconstructs from a variety of literary and visual sources the idea of the labyrinth from the classical period through the Middle Ages. Doob first examines several complementary traditions of the maze topos, showing how ancient historical and geographical writings generate metaphors in which the labyrinth signifies admirable complexity, while poetic texts tend to suggest that the labyrinth is a sign of moral duplicity. She then describes two common models of the labyrinth and explores their formal implications: the unicursal model, with no false turnings, found almost universally in the visual arts; and the multicursal model, with blind alleys and dead ends, characteristic of literary texts. This paradigmatic clash between the labyrinths of art and of literature becomes a key to the metaphorical potential of the maze, as Doob's examination of a vast array of materials from the classical period through the Middle Ages suggests. She concludes with linked readings of four "labyrinths of words": Virgil's Aeneid, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Chaucer's House of Fame, each of which plays with and transforms received ideas of the labyrinth as well as reflecting and responding to aspects of the texts that influenced it. Doob not only provides fresh theoretical and historical perspectives on the labyrinth tradition, but also portrays a complex medieval aesthetic that helps us to approach structurally elaborate early works. Readers in such fields as Classical literature, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, comparative literature, literary theory, art history, and intellectual history will welcome this wide-ranging and illuminating book. 606 $aLabyrinths in art 606 $aLiterature, Medieval$xHistory and criticism 606 $aClassical literature$xHistory and criticism 606 $aLabyrinths in literature 615 0$aLabyrinths in art. 615 0$aLiterature, Medieval$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aClassical literature$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aLabyrinths in literature. 676 $a700 700 $aReed Doob$b Penelope$0499202 801 0$bMdBmJHUP 801 1$bMdBmJHUP 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910367642403321 996 $aIdea of the labyrinth$9737630 997 $aUNINA