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Mind, Breath, and Voice in Chaucer’s Romance Writing

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New Directions in Literature and Medicine Studies

Abstract

This chapter takes its cue from the Hearing the Voice and Life of Breath projects based at Durham University (UK) to explore the ways in which Chaucer’s romance writings are shaped by and creatively engage with complex understandings of mind, body, and affect. The medieval thought world assumes the embodied nature of experience. Emotions are caused by the movement of the spirits and are underpinned by breath; psychological paradigms rely on the connections between senses, affect, and cognition and the possibility of supernatural experience. Affective experience is explored across a range of Chaucer’s works, with a focus on ideas of voice and breath. Taking a long cultural perspective offers new insights into experience from normal to pathological, and into the relationship between mind, body, and world.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English Studies, University of Durham, Durham, Hallgarth House, 77, Hallgarth Street, DH13AY, UK

    Corinne Saunders

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  1. Corinne Saunders
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Correspondence to Corinne Saunders .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, USA

    Stephanie M. Hilger

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Saunders, C. (2017). Mind, Breath, and Voice in Chaucer’s Romance Writing. In: Hilger, S. (eds) New Directions in Literature and Medicine Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51988-7_7

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