[...]sebumps='lgc'>]
='lgc'>+ (="frds scrmbld">Ehsan master of) ='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]="trms">fabulae='lgc'>: (="trms">story) told without claims to their ="trms">ontological status ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">historia
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>==> theory of ="trms">wonder='lgc'>: ='lgc'>[='at'>@="nms">apass='lgc'>]
="lstsrd">1. ='strcls'>*="trms">response to facticity='strcls'>*
="lstsrd">2. ='strcls'>*="trms">response to the singular='strcls'>*
="lstsrd">3. ='strcls'>*is deeply perspectival='strcls'>*
="lsts lst1">•William of Newburgh ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (some ="trms">sort of) probatio (testing, evidence) ='lgc'>--base='lgc'>='lgc'>--> rimari (probe, pry into فضولی، با اهرم بلند کردن) ='lgc'>=/= admirari (to ="trms">wonder at)
="lsts lst1">•Gervais of Tilbury ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> facts ='lgc'>==induce='lgc'>='lgc'>==> marvel ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= res ="trms">gestae (deeds or ="trms">historical accounts) ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">stories (="trms">fabulae, lies) ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>~= ='strcls'>*you cannot be amazed by what you don't believe='strcls'>* (="trms">stories of ghosts, vampires, migration of quail, flight of squirrels, etc.)='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•John of Salisbury ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*marvellous singularity='strcls'>* (collection of advice for courtiers and princes) ='lgc'>~ ="trms">wonder='lgc'>: ="trms">response to ma="trms">jesty (hidden wisdom, significance) ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">generalizing='lgc'> = moralizing (inductio exemplorum, citing of ="trms">instructive general causes ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> forensic)
="lsts lst1">•
credible deeply unusual singular event ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> admiratio
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]perspectival='lgc'>: reaction of a particular “us” to an “other” that is “other” only relative to the particular “us” (='lgc'><='lgc'>-- ='thdf'>this is why ="nms">="nms">ajayebnameh is ="trms">interesting)
="lsts lst1">•James of Vitry ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>***cyclopses who all have one eye marvel as much at those who have two eyes as we marvel at them='strcls'>*** (1200)
="lsts lst1">•Gosswin of Metz ='and'>& John Mandeville ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> turning such perspectivalism into gently ironic comments on themselves
="lsts lst1">•William of Rubruck ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> barefoot ="trms">travel through harsh terrain and climate required by Franciscan asceticism seems as ="trms">monstrous a practice in the East as certain Eastern customs appear when reported “back home”
="lsts lst1">•
="large lg2" stl="font-size:111%">
='strcls'>**(how='qstn'>? can we simply='qstn'>?) study medieval emotion='strcls'>** ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">wonder stated by ="trms">historians, ="trms">travelers, theologians, philosophers, preachers, devotional ="trms">writers
="large lg1" stl="font-size:118%">
='strcls'>*traces of emotion='strcls'>* that survive are mediated through texts, pictures, artifacts ='lgc'>--="ppl">Bynum='lgc'>='lgc'>--> we are not entitled either to assume a ="trms">sort of ="ppl">Darwinian universal emotion, or to think that emotion-behavior is culturally constructed (as to exist only where we find words for it)
='strcls'>***texts may give us access to reactions less through adjectives attached to nouns='strcls'>*** (by calling something “="trms">wonderful” or “d="trms"nttrm="already,spread">readful” ='lgc'>=/= indicating the ="trms">responses of an implicit ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reader/viewer)
="lsts lst1">•a keyword search for “="trms"nttrm="danger,stranger">anger” will tend to turn up set pieces on how to control it ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> discussions of where it is not
="lsts lst1">•reactions such as ="trms">wonder, delight, or terror (do not simply occur) they are ='strcls'>*evoked='strcls'>*, sometimes even ='strcls'>*="trms">staged='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> we can explore what evoked them
finding ="trms">wonder-words ='lgc'>=/= finding ="trms">wonder (complex semantic field)
="trms">wonder-reaction='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•terror
="lsts lst1">•disgust
="lsts lst1">•solemn astonishment
="lsts lst1">•playful delight
in medieval accounts ="trms">wonder often has='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•a mischievous quality
Bernard of Clairvaux ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> spice of ="trms">stories
11th century ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (naughtily) impish girl saint ="trms">jokes
="frds scrmbld">Gerald of Wales ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">nature's pranks
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> moralizing ="trms">bestiary tradition (taking more pleasure in the ="trms">animal tales than in theology)
analogies between ="trms">animals and humans are anything but solemn and didactic
="lsts lst1">•a d="trms"nttrm="already,spread">readful quality
(="ppl">Attar's accounts of saint torture)
="frds scrmbld">Gerald of Wales ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> recounting some of the earliest warewold ="trms">stories to survive in european ="trms">literature, he glosses the admiratio felt by those inside the ="trms">story as stupor خرفتی, timor بیم, ="trms">horror خوف
="lsts lst2">◦shape-shifting violating ="trms">nature
="lsts lst2">◦tales of ="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">meta="trms">morphoses ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the real change of substance in the eucharist عشاربانى ='lgc'>+ the terrifying possibility that sexual ="trms">intercourse between humans and ="trms">animals might produce ="trms">monsters
(="ppl">Bynum asking) what in medieval accounts or artistic re="trms">presentations tends to t="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigger ="trms">wonder='qstn'>? ='strcls'>*where do the surviving source give us access either to intensely heightened reactions or to events and objects calculated to evoke or ="trms">stage such reactions='qstn'>?='strcls'>*
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> where ="trms">wonder is not='qstn'>?
(didactic purposes of) miracle collections
='strcls'>*hovering significance='strcls'>* (of unusual ="trms">natural events='lgc'>: eclipse, earthquakes, famines) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> sometimes ="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listed as clipped ="trms">matter-of-fact prose
William Auvergne ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">="ppl">Oresme ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">natural causes can be found for marvels tend to flatten the ="trms">language of some accounts of ="trms">natural ="trms">world as well
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>==> miracles, portents فال بد, oddities are sites and ="trms">stagings of ="trms">wonder less often than we might ="trms">suppose
12th - 14th century ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">narrative accounts tell us of objects and events carefully constructed to elicit awe, delight, d="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read
='strcls'>*rulers (secular ='lgc'>+ ecclesiastical) ='lgc'>--competed='lgc'>='lgc'>--> display of power and splender in="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">cluding tricks and automata ='lgc'>--calculated='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to amaze and tantalize='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•(13th century) خانه وحشت 🏰 evidence of a count of Artois who built an elaborate funhouse with distorting mirrors, rooms that simulated thunderstorms, hidden pipes for wetting unsuspecting visitors and covering them with flour
="lsts lst1">•puppet shows in ="trms">pastry (sotelties)
="lsts lst1">•food was often planned as an illusion or trick for the eye (='lgc'>-='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='gtrw'>go to in="trms">stagram cake baked in the shape of ordinary objects)
="lsts lst1">•changes in church architecture in liturgy (آئین نماز) ='lgc'>+ fabrication of ="trms">monstrances ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> define the moment in the Mass when ='strcls'>*the consecrated host (the devine installed in food or flesh or ="trms">matter) was elevated as a sudden revelation of the unexpected and paradoxical='strcls'>*
="lsts lst2">◦collection of relics and their ='strcls'>**elaborate containers='strcls'>** (reliquaries محفظه عتیقه) ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> similarity and ="trms">historical connection to wunderkammer of early medieval princes='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> theologians and many of the ordinary faithful continued ='strcls'>*to value the super="trms">natural power mediated through bone chips or dust='strcls'>* more than the intricate workmanship or sheer novelty of the container ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*object='lgc'> = a means of access to an other tham as a singularity fascinating in itself='strcls'>*
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*relic cabinets ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= cabinets of novelties='strcls'>*
='lgc'>}='lgc'>--underlying='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>***impulse to collect='strcls'>***
mirabile visu!
='strcls'>****(12th century) abbot Suger of St. Denis describes the crowd (more desperate to touch, possess, appropriate) that is frantic over access to a power not only ='strcls'>*beyond='strcls'>* but also in its ="trms">nature ='strcls'>*other than='strcls'>* what contains it
(God lodged in decayed body, manifested and hidden behind the crystal and gold)
="trms">narrative accounts not only described objects and events that were ="trms">staged or constructed to produce ="trms">wonder ='lgc'>+ they also ='strcls'>*teemed with complex ="trms">wonder-reactions='strcls'>*
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> hagiographer (="ppl">Attar's) detailed in emotional ="trms">sensual ="trms">language the extravagant asceticism and para-mystical manifestations holy women experienced ='lgc'>+ the amazement such manifestations engendered in others ='lgc'>{beauty was not merely referred to as ="trms">wonderful, ='strcls'>*it was also described in ="trms">loving and lyrical ="trms">language='strcls'>* as signaling a deeper pattern or purpose='lgc'>}
(old ="ppl">Augustinian idea that) the ="trms">world itself is a miracle ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (homi="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list Aelfric) wundra (marvels) of God
="lsts lst1">•it requires no sorcery that the moon waxes and wanes, that the sea agrees with it, that the earth greens in ="trms">response to its power 🌙
="lsts lst1">•(recounting the migration of salmon upstream to spawn) they leap from bottom to top with a leap that is marvellous, and except that is is proper to the ="trms">nature of fish, marvellous
سندباد ="nms">Sinbad
='lgc'>[fantastical='lgc'>] ="trms">travelers’ tales (recounted) the ='strcls'>*fearsome='strcls'>* and the ='strcls'>*ugly='strcls'>* ='lgc'>--as='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*="trms">wonderful='strcls'>*
to Marco Polo almost every ="trms">animal he met was a marvel (the horrible cro="trms">codile, beautiful giraffe) ='lgc'>[described with an earnest and urgent facticity ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="nms">ajayeb's tone='lgc'>]
in later middle ages (and in toda popular media) ='strcls'>*strangeness appealed='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">stories abounded='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•of ="trms">fabulous palces
="lsts lst1">•of stones with marvellous powers
="lsts lst1">•of ="trms">monsters
="lsts lst1">•of mermaids
="lsts lst1">•of fairies
="lsts lst1">•of bizarre races with eyes in their chests or enormous umbrella feet
="lsts lst1">•Marco Polo's awkward and impoverished prose
="lsts lst1">•Mandeville's credulous tale-telling
="lsts lst1">•="nms">Sinbad='lgc'>: ='lgc'>[a powerful sense that='lgc'>] what is ="trms">wonderful='lgc'>: (is not chickens and peacocks, even cyclopses and cannibals per se, but) ='strcls'>**a ="trms">world that encompasses such ="trms">staggering diversity='strcls'>** ='lgc'>--="ppl">Bynum='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>******the impulse to chronicle (such things) ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= a critique of the impulse to possess them='strcls'>******
“If you ='lgc'>[="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alex,Alert,Aleph,Alessi">Alexander the Great='lgc'>] had a body that matched your greedy mind and heart that know no bounds in their desires, or if your body equaled your great cupidity, the great ="trms">world itself would not suffice to contain you ... Your ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">right hand would hold the East, the left the West. Not content with this, in all your prayers you would be ="trms">consumed with desire to investigate and find out where that amazing [...]