Medieval Aesthetics & Hermeneutics PDF

Medieval Aesthetics &Hermeneutics &Allegorical Reading Dr Islam Aly El-Naggar Faculty of Arts (2nd Yr) (2024-2025) University Email: [email protected]  General Estimation of Medieval Criticism continued … W. K. Wamsutta* and Cleanth Brooks* fel...

Medieval Aesthetics &Hermeneutics &Allegorical Reading Dr Islam Aly El-Naggar Faculty of Arts (2nd Yr) (2024-2025) University Email: [email protected]  General Estimation of Medieval Criticism continued … W. K. Wamsutta* and Cleanth Brooks* felt obliged to seek aesthetic, rather than distinctively literary theory in the Middle Ages. ‘no new theory of beauty, of fine art in general, or of poetry’ is offered by St Thomas Aquinas or ‘other theologians ˌθiːəˈləʊdʒən of the high Middle Ages’. Giovanni Boccaccio’s [/bəˈkatʃɪəʊ/ ] account of Poetics in his Genealogy of the Gentile[Jewish] Gods*.  Before we Start! √√√What is Medieval Aesthetics? A set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty. Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art. It examines aesthetic values, often expressed through judgments of taste. Medieval Aesthetic concepts … Reading the Bible: Literature and Theology Different literary strategies* Augustine’s Aesthetics Unity is the main source of beauty Proportion* (Horace)* Dionysian symbolism Symbolism and Allegory: Universal symbolism* Negative Theology* Secular criticism (Defending Poetry*) Religious vs Secular literature in the Medieval era  Reading the Bible: Literature and Theology Symbolism and allegory are an important element in medieval criticism. – The NEO-PLATONIC nature of such interpretation/traditions. The Bible is not an abstract discussion of religious issues: it is a literary work, which includes history, narrative, parable* and allegory*. Accordingly, an uneasy relation between the Bible, secular poetry, and theology. The medieval critics will have to discuss the different literary strategies* (genres, figures, techniques). Theory of universal symbolism* is a theological and not an aesthetic doctrine, but it will have numerous implications on aesthetics and literary theory. Aesthetic concepts … felix culpa*: (Complex) Unity is the main source of beauty. a complex unity The unity of the work must allow for the existence of elements which seem to go against it; it must allow variety*. Is it homogeneous or heterogeneous? It does not destroy unity, because things which are opposed often work together. The villain in drama makes the virtue in the hero stand out. The doctrine of felix culpa*: sin and imperfection are necessary so that God's plan of salvation may be fulfilled.  Augustine’s Aesthetics (Principles) … (354-430) He grafted* many neo-Platonic concepts to the Christian doctrine. His aesthetic ideas also have strong Plotinian overtones. The perception of beauty presupposes for Augustine an idea or norm This norm is not learnt from experience and sensory knowledge. The concepts of order and perfection are known to man by direct divine inspiration. Beauty, then, is not relative, but absolute. The perception of beauty is passive.*  Augustine’s Hermeneutics* The problem of figurative language and interpretation of the Scriptures. Augustine recognizes the poetic language of the Bible and speaks of the "pleasant use of symbols”. Mystical Interpretation: finding hidden things is a pleasure for man. [hermeneutics leads to Aesthetics]* A symbol is a part of the work which has a multiplicity of meanings. The possible four interpretations of (the Old Testament) It can be interpreted according to: 1-History 2- Etiology 3-Analogy 4 - Allegory Allegory [a common term for all the hidden/cryptic or mystical meanings.] The difference between the literal level and the mystical level. The possibility of discovering multiple meanings in a literary work and makes interpretation more problematic. √√√Augustine also made some influential comments on Secular literature*. In his Confessions, Augustine belittles the value of literary works (such as the Aeneid ɪˈniːɪd *) when compared to the word of God and dismisses them as idle fictions.* Augustine does not condemn fiction/fables as lies. It is a special kind of lie or falsehood, because it also contains a particular kind of truth. Glossary The Aeneid The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan prince who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. Written by the Roman poet Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, the Aeneid comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter.  Symbolism and Allegory Symbolism and allegory are an important element in medieval criticism. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 500) He wrote a series of Greek treatises and letters for the purpose of uniting: 1. Neoplatonic philosophy 2. Christian theology 3. mystical experience  3. Dionysian symbolism Pseudo-Dionysius ˌsjuːdəʊˌdaɪəˈnɪsɪəs the Areopagite ˌærɪˈɒpəˌɡaɪt (c. 500) as a major authority. Pseudo-Dionysius wrote a book on The Celestial Hierarchies in which he interpreted the figurative language of the Bible as a legitimate way of giving a sensible form to mysteries. This work became one of the major sources for medieval ideas of imagery and symbolism. Pseudo-Dionysius believed in negative theology*: the idea that we cannot really represent God in language or in sensible forms.  Analogical/Similar imagery vs Dissimilar (Negative) image There is no danger of their being taken for the truth --no danger of idolatry. "God is light" (I John 1:5). A dissimilar image occurs when God warns us "I will come on thee as a thief" (Rev. 3.3). Many theologians, most of them, in fact, prefer the use of analogical and similar imagery. However, the followers of Dionysius, like Grosseteste or Thomas Gallus, show a preference for dissimilar or negative imagery. The more dissimilar the images are from our idea of God, so much the better for them.  The universe, therefore, is the Book of God, and its significance is encapsulated in the pages of the universal book, the Bible.  4. Secular Allegory Secular criticism Reading the Bible as literature Claim of poetry to be an independent source knowledge and wisdom must have seemed alarming to the more orthodox churchmen. This kind of defense of poetry was a stronghold for secular criticism and an inspiring force for the medieval humanists. The gradual convergence of sacred and secular criticism continued in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, leading to Dante and Boccaccio. Later on, it will be further developed by the Italian humanists of the fifteenth century.  The Emergence of the Scholastic Much of the critical awareness of the Middle Ages was developed by the scholastics "Scholasticism and humanism developed together it would be simplistic to say that scholasticism was the enemy of literature. After all, scholasticism was an activity centered around textual commentary.  the scholastic philosophy Aristotelian Philosophy.  √√√Saint Thomas Aquinas əˈkwaɪnəs Aristotelianism Aquinas does not deal explicitly with literature as such, but he has some interesting observations on general aesthetics, and he further develops the theory of interpretive levels for the Bible which will later be applied to literature. His Aristotelian outlook will favour a new approach to criticism and interpretation. xxx1. Medieval Aesthetics … the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages Saint Thomas Aquinas is the most influential of the Scholastic thinkers and his doctrines have long been the unofficial philosophy of the Catholic Church. The basic tenet of his doctrine is that there is no contradiction* between faith and reason [philosophy and theology are not contrary but complementary disciplines]. Aquinas fully introduced the work of Aristotle in the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages. Aquinas’ Methodology: he used it to draw a sharp distinction between God and Aristotle’s works.  Xxxx Saint Thomas Aquinas The distinction Aquinas makes had been threatened by the neo- Platonic doctrine of emanation* [presented the Universe as the inevitable product of the divinity]. He attacked the naturalistic philosophy of Averroes /əˈvɛrəʊˌiːz/ in his Summa contra Gentiles. Summa theologiae [the main monument of scholasticism]. This was left unfinished. One year before his death, Aquinas stopped work on Summa theologiae, and came to believe that all he had written was "like so much straw compared with what I have seen and what has been revealed to me." Aquinas’ Aesthetics: Beauty/ Goodness/the Agreeable The objects of aesthetics are (beauty, goodness, the agreeable) Concerned with goodness, rather than with beauty or the agreeable [Like all theologians]. Goodness is being considered in relation to desire [That is, good things are desired]. The agreeable is one of the divisions of goodness. Beauty is that which is agreeable to the sight: "pulchra sunt quae visa placent" (cf. Plato's definition). In order to please, a thing must be harmonious with him who knows it. Aquinas’ Aesthetics: Beauty/ Goodness/the Agreeable Beauty is an "analogical term”*: that is , there is not a single standard of beauty for all things Every beautiful thing is beautiful in a special way. Beauty does require three qualities in the object: 1. Wholeness (integritas sive perfectio) 2. Proportion (debita proportio sive consonantia ), not only in the object itself, but above all, a proportion between the object and the observer. 3. Brightness (claritas ); to be traced back to the neo-Platonic view of light as a symbol of the divine beauty and truth.  James Joyce’s Theory of Epiphany James Joyce uses Aquinas' terms to expound his theory of the epiphany [the sudden revelation of the essence of a thing through art]. He modifies the concepts He sees them not as requirements but as phases in a process of perception. 1. First phase: we perceive an object as a whole. 2. Second phase: we perceive the proportion in it which is the cause of beauty. 3. Third phase: we are ready to get an aesthetic insight into the heart of the object, its "whatness" or quidditas… leading us to Brightness" [the revelation of the essence of the object perceived: "claritas is quidditas"]. This third quality, claritas, poses some problems when we try to apply this aesthetic theory to literature As conceived by Aquinas, it just does not fit. (Why?) All these aesthetic concepts are meant by Aquinas to apply to both artistic and natural beauty. [not literary language] 2. Medieval Hermeneutics* … Why Hermeneutics? Hermeneutics: the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts. Sometimes the Bible sometimes uses surprising figures and metaphors which might seem irreverent, for instance, comparing God to a worm or to a thief. What is wrong about the use of such figures and metaphors? They would sometimes obscure truth. They might debase the dignity of the divine image by comparing it with earthly, unworthy things. - Aquinas observes that metaphors are "proper to poetic, the least of all the sciences.“ - But nevertheless he thinks their use in theology is justified. Aquinas’ Justification of Allegorical reading of the Bible … it is natural to attain to intellectual truth through sensible things, because all our knowledge originates from sense. [c.f Augustine].*... It is natural to man to be pleased with representations. the very hiding of truth in figures is useful for the exercise of thoughtful minds, and as a defense against the ridicule of the unbelievers. Aquinas also continues the traditional Christian doctrine on allegory, with references to Augustine's distinction between historical, etiological, anagogical and allegorical meanings*. Signification System of the words of God in the Holy Scripture/Levels of Interpretation 1. The first signification whereby words signify things belongs to the first sense [the historical or literal*]. 2.That signification whereby things signified by words have themselves also a signification is called the spiritual sense, which is based on the literal, and presupposes it. Now this spiritual sense has a threefold division: signify the things 1. the allegorical sense [things done in Christ, or so far as the things which signify Christ]. 2. the moral [ the tropological ] sense [signs of what we ought to do]. 3. the anagogical [the universal] sense. [signs signifying what relates to eternal glory. Explaining Aquinas' position/Stance on the Allegorical. … cautious Aquinas restricts the fourfold method of interpretation to the Holy Scripture. It is not valid for literature at large, because only Scripture signifies in this peculiar way. The emphasis laid by Aquinas on the literal sense.* Doctrine must appear explicitly elsewhere in the literal level to justify an allegorical reading of a passage [we must understand the literal level before we try to find any mystical meanings]. Explaining Aquinas' position/Stance & the Scholastic philosophy in terms with Aristotelian Philosophy*. Aquinas and other scholastic commentators restrict the scope of mystical meanings [this Double meanings such as metaphor, are to be understood as belonging to the literal level]. The emphasis laid by Aquinas on the literal sense may be related to the Aristotelian perspective he favours. For the scholastic philosophy of the late Middle Ages, meaning is no longer something hidden. Theological hermeneutics: The interpretive limitations and the exegetical practice imposed by the scholastics [on the allegorical reading of the Bible ] are clear. Theological hermeneutics leaves the door open for the application of this system to profane literature, such as will be undertaken by  The Owl and the Nightingale (Cira 1210) written by an unknown poem, a debate poem is the earliest surviving English lyrics of medieval period expressing a native and pure English sensibility. The strength of the poem lies in its use of the vernacular.  Glossary Etiological: Serving to explain something by giving a cause or reason for it, often in historical or mythical terms Anagogical: In biblical literature/ 'a fourth and ultimate spiritual or mystical sense’ /Anagogical (mystical or spiritual) interpretation seeks to explain biblical events or matters of this world so that they relate to the life to come.