Title
The Path to Wholeness: The Therapeutic Potential of Bodily Writing in Late Medieval Dream Visions
Abstract
This dissertation argues that late medieval dream poets viewed writing as a serious means of therapy, capable of healing both pscyhological and physiological ailments. Blending together the poetic revelatory tradition (influenced by Apocalpytic writings) with new understandings of health and medicine, fourteenth-century dream visions sought to treat the illnesses of their poetic personae by applying medical principles to literary bodies. It is the dream frame in particular, as both a reflection of the poet’s physical and mental condition and a catalyst for introspection and transformation, that enabled these poets to write through and for their bodies, ultimately facilitating healing. I take as case studies four late medieval dream visions: Le Roman de la Rose, Piers Plowman, the House of Fame, and L’Advision-Christine.
Description
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. April 2016. Major: English. Advisor: Rebecca Krug. 1 computer file (PDF); ii, 319 pages.
Suggested Citation
Robison, Katherine.
(2016).
The Path to Wholeness: The Therapeutic Potential of Bodily Writing in Late Medieval Dream Visions.
Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy,
http://hdl.handle.net/11299/181655.