Monodies and On the Relics of Saints: The Autobiography and a Manifesto of a French Monk from theTime of the Crusades (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Nogent, Guibert Of

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143106309 ISBN 13: 9780143106302

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2012

Synopsis

[ Monodies and on the Relics of Saints: The Autobiography and a Manifesto of a French Monk from the Time of the Crusades By ( Author ) Sep-2011 Paperback

About this title

Review:

"The fascination of this elegantly translated volume lies in Guibert's perceptions of his own time, so utterly different from the worldview of a modern Westerner. Jay Rubenstein is a learned, witty, and sympathetic host as he introduces us to one of the twelfth century's most idiosyncratic, confessional, and engaging writers." --Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Christianity & The Reformation

"Marvelous: a revelation. I had not heard of Guibert of Nogent. His Monodies is a very dark autobiography and profoundly moving in its visions of sin."

"This magnificent autobiography has all the stuff of a psychological drama, the excitement of a great social upheaval, and the intrigue of a monastic mystery. It is one of those rare books that both delights scholars of the period and makes fascinating reading for the general literate soul." --R. Howard Bloch, Yale University

"This is a valuable addition to medieval literature, and Penguin are to be applauded for adding it to their list of Classics. . . . The Monodies has been translated before but clumsily, and here at last is a smooth and comprehensible version. . . . [It] provides an intriguing insight into the mind of a medieval monk . . . a complex and troubled man, austere, conservative, at sea with a changing world . . . an isolated and introspective figure who broods continually on his relationship with God. This is, of course, one of the reasons why the Monodies is so interesting." --Charles Freeman, History Today

About the Author:

Guibert of Nogent (c. 1060-c. 1125) was a French monk who has emerged as one of the most original thinkers of the twelfth century. Joseph McAlhany is an associate professor of great ideas and classics at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Jay Rubenstein, a MacArthur Fellow and Rhodes scholar, is an assistant professor of medieval history at the University of Tennessee- Knoxville and the author of the first comprehensive study of Guibert's life and thought in over a century.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0143106309
• ISBN 13: 9780143106302
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400