
Debating with Demons
Pedagogy and Materiality in Early English Literature
Christina M. Heckman(Author)
D.S. Brewer (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 21. August 2020
Book
Hardback
260 pages
978-1-84384-565-2 (ISBN)
Description
A consideration of the theme of demons as teachers in early English literature.
In early English literature ca 700-1000 C.E., demons are represented as teachers who use methods of persuasion and argumentation to influence their "pupils". By deploying these methods, related to the liberal arts of rhetoric anddialectic, demons become masters of verbal manipulation. Their pupils are frequently women or Jews, seemingly marginal figures but who often oppose the authority of demonic pedagogues and challenge their deceptive lessons. In poetic accounts of the Fall of the Angels, the Fall of Adam and Eve, and the lives of the saints, those who debate with demons redefine the significance of narrative, authority, and resistance in early medieval pedagogy.
This book argues that these encounters between demonic teachers and their pupils are both epistemological, altering the pupils' knowledge, and ontological, affecting their state of being. As the pupils "learn", the physical locations theyoccupy align with rhetorical and dialectical topoi, or conceptual spaces in the mind, as minds, souls, bodies, and places are integrated into cohesive lived experience. The volume thus explores early medieval pedagogy as a spirituo-material practice, both embodied and emplaced, with the potential to alter the onto-epistemological dynamics of the world.
In early English literature ca 700-1000 C.E., demons are represented as teachers who use methods of persuasion and argumentation to influence their "pupils". By deploying these methods, related to the liberal arts of rhetoric anddialectic, demons become masters of verbal manipulation. Their pupils are frequently women or Jews, seemingly marginal figures but who often oppose the authority of demonic pedagogues and challenge their deceptive lessons. In poetic accounts of the Fall of the Angels, the Fall of Adam and Eve, and the lives of the saints, those who debate with demons redefine the significance of narrative, authority, and resistance in early medieval pedagogy.
This book argues that these encounters between demonic teachers and their pupils are both epistemological, altering the pupils' knowledge, and ontological, affecting their state of being. As the pupils "learn", the physical locations theyoccupy align with rhetorical and dialectical topoi, or conceptual spaces in the mind, as minds, souls, bodies, and places are integrated into cohesive lived experience. The volume thus explores early medieval pedagogy as a spirituo-material practice, both embodied and emplaced, with the potential to alter the onto-epistemological dynamics of the world.
Reviews / Votes
This book offers useful studies of the role of the demon-as-teacher in Old English literature. It demonstrates that education in the early Middle Ages was threatened by, but in need of, corruptive demons and their malign pedagogical and verbal art. It is a useful and forward thinking contribution to the subject of learning [..] in the period. * SPECULUM *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
561 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84384-565-2 (9781843845652)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2020
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€48.99
Available for download
Person
CHRISTINA M. HECKMAN is Professor of English at Augusta University, Georgia.
Content
Introduction: The Devil's Secret Chamber
Spirituo-Materiality in the Early Middle Ages
The Artes Liberales in the Early Middle Ages
The Devil Within: Perils of Pedagogy in the Monastic School
The Origin of the Teaching Demon: Lucifer as Magister
Demonic Teaching and the Fall in the Old English Genesis
Demonic Teaching and Saintly Discretio in Cynewulf's Juliana
Inventing Materia: The True Cross and Saintly Disputation in Cynewulf's Elene
Conclusion: The Mysteries of Pedagogy
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Spirituo-Materiality in the Early Middle Ages
The Artes Liberales in the Early Middle Ages
The Devil Within: Perils of Pedagogy in the Monastic School
The Origin of the Teaching Demon: Lucifer as Magister
Demonic Teaching and the Fall in the Old English Genesis
Demonic Teaching and Saintly Discretio in Cynewulf's Juliana
Inventing Materia: The True Cross and Saintly Disputation in Cynewulf's Elene
Conclusion: The Mysteries of Pedagogy
Bibliography
Acknowledgements