Blurred Boundaries and Deceptive Dichotomies in Pre-Mode Texts and Images:Culture, Society and Reception (Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Mode Culture, 28)

by: Dafna Nissim (Editor),Vered Tohar (Editor)

Publisher: De Gruyter

Publication Date: 2023/12/18

Language: English

Print Length: 265 pages

ISBN-10: 3111243567

ISBN-13: 9783111243566

Book Description

This collection of essays focuses on the way blurred boundaries are represented in pre-mode texts and visual art and how they were received and perceived by their audiences:readers, listeners, and viewers. According to the current understanding that opposing cognitive categories that are so common in mode thinking do not apply to pre-mode mentalities, we argue that individuals in medieval and pre-mode societies did not necessarily consider sacred and secular, male and female, real and fictional, and opposing emotions as absolute dichotomies.The contributors to the present collection examine a wide range of cultural artifacts – literary texts, wall paintings, sculptures, jewelry, manuscript illustrations, and various objects as to what they reflect regarding the dominant perceptual system – the network of beliefs, worldviews, presumptions, values, and norms of viewing/reading/hearing different from mode epistemology strongly predicated on the binary nature of things and people. The essays suggest that analyzing pre-mode cultural works of art or literature in light of reception theory can lead to a better understanding of how those cultural products influenced individuals and impacted their thoughts and actions.

About the Author

This collection of essays focuses on the way blurred boundaries are represented in pre-mode texts and visual art and how they were received and perceived by their audiences:readers, listeners, and viewers. According to the current understanding that opposing cognitive categories that are so common in mode thinking do not apply to pre-mode mentalities, we argue that individuals in medieval and pre-mode societies did not necessarily consider sacred and secular, male and female, real and fictional, and opposing emotions as absolute dichotomies.The contributors to the present collection examine a wide range of cultural artifacts – literary texts, wall paintings, sculptures, jewelry, manuscript illustrations, and various objects as to what they reflect regarding the dominant perceptual system – the network of beliefs, worldviews, presumptions, values, and norms of viewing/reading/hearing different from mode epistemology strongly predicated on the binary nature of things and people. The essays suggest that analyzing pre-mode cultural works of art or literature in light of reception theory can lead to a better understanding of how those cultural products influenced individuals and impacted their thoughts and actions.