Storytelling at the Gates of Hell: Narrative Epistemology in Piers Plowman

Q2 Arts and Humanities
Mary Raschko
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract:This essay investigates the role of collective, reiterative storytelling within Piers Plowman. More specifically, it characterizes Langland's Four Daughters' debate in Passus B XVIII/C XX as a moment of metanarrative reflection that considers the power and limitations of storytelling for knowing God. At the poem's narrative climax, between the Crucifixion and the Harrowing of Hell, Langland inserts a deliberative pause in which Mercy, Truth, Justice, and Peace attempt to discern what the death of Christ means. While scholars typically read the debate as a discursive exchange, the speakers repeatedly tell stories. Most poignantly, within this larger life of Christ, Mercy, Peace, and the personification Book all narrate new lives of Christ. Langland presents the nested vitae Christi as acts of discernment that integrate select aspects of biblical history and forget or exclude others. By means of narrative selectivity, the speakers render God more legible, while also manifesting ideologies and potentially fostering misunderstanding. Ultimately, the essay argues that Langland presents any individual vita Christi as an insufficient means to know God, but affirms the collective, multivocal project of storytelling as vital to the quest for such knowledge.
地狱之门的叙事:《皮尔斯·普洛曼》的叙事认识论
摘要:本文探讨了《农夫皮尔斯》中集体复述故事的作用。更具体地说,它将朗兰的四个女儿的辩论描述为一个元叙事反思的时刻,思考了讲故事对于认识上帝的力量和局限性。在这首诗的叙事高潮,在受难和地狱的痛苦之间,朗兰插入了一个深思熟虑的停顿,在这个停顿中,《仁慈、真理、正义与和平》试图分辨出基督之死的意义。虽然学者们通常将辩论视为一种话语交流,但演讲者却反复讲述故事。最令人心酸的是,在这更大的基督生命中,怜悯、和平和拟人化的书都叙述了基督的新生命。朗兰认为,嵌套的基督教生活是一种洞察力的行为,它整合了圣经历史的某些方面,而忘记或排除了其他方面。通过叙事的选择性,说话者使上帝更加清晰,同时也体现了意识形态,并可能助长误解。最后,这篇文章认为,朗兰把任何一个人的生命作为认识上帝的手段都是不够的,但他肯定了集体的、多声音的讲故事项目对寻求这种知识至关重要。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Studies in the Age of Chaucer
Studies in the Age of Chaucer Arts and Humanities-Literature and Literary Theory
CiteScore
0.30
自引率
0.00%
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0
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