Some thoughts from the Lucian Reading Group
As promised, I’m posting a brief summary of the very interesting discussion which ensued from reading the excerpts from Lucian’s De Laude Cestrie I posted a couple of weeks ago.
We discussed the audience of Lucian’s work, coming to the conclusion that the Easter tables and brief computistical instructions at the beginning of the manuscript suggest it was written for a local priest, conceivably a canon of St John’s. Several delegates observed the importance of understanding Lucian’s place within the ‘Encomium urbis’ (Praise of Cities) tradition, commenting both on the similarities of the De Laude with Fitzstephen’s poem in praise of London and the idiosyncracy of Lucian’s choice to write in prose.
We explored the complex rhetoric of the ‘excusatio operis’ (account of his reasons for writing) with which Lucian begins his work (detailing a particular meeting with his patron, and praising him as a worthy model of virtue), finding Lucian’s handling of traditional tropes to be extremely sophisticated. We pondered how far Lucian’s text can be regarded as a proto-guidebook, noting that he at one point envisions his reader studying the text with one eye and the streets it describes with the other.
Tags: Lucian
January 29th, 2009 at 1:13 am
I was sorry that I was unable to make the meeting as I found Lucian’s text intriguing. The idea of this being a proto-guidebook is certainly an interesting one. Though this seems to go deeper than a tour of the city. Every detail of the city seems laden with meaning beyond the confines of physical description. Just one example, of the several that drew my attention, is Lucian’s account of the impact of the tidal River Dee on the lives of the Chester inhabitants. Lucian seems to be utilising a tradition of the restorative and destructive symbolism of water, to remind his readership of the power of the Almighty to bless and punish. He is playing, perhaps, on the concerns of locals by expressing the extreme and unpredictable geographical conditions in dualisitic terms- as provider and danger. Landscape supplies analogy to the biblical relationship between God and man calling to mind the judgement of The Flood (OT) and the reward of faith shown in the disciples’ miraculous catch of fish(NT).
Could this emphatic assertion that Chester owes its past and continued prosperity to God, combined with Lucian’s obvious disdain for the secular authorities, point to a motivation behind his meaning full writing? What political tensions were making themselves felt in the work? Was Lucian reacting to some percieved threat to Church authority and wishing to remind someone (who?)of where their loyalties should lie?
Look forward to the next instalment and any answers to the above questions that may come to light.
Liza PT
January 29th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Thanks Liza. Lucian is definitely concerned to depict Chester’s natural resources as a divine blessing. I think you’re also right that the anecdote about overfishing is intended to remind Cestrians that their stewardship of God’s creation brings responsibilities. At various times, Lucian seems to presuppose an similar audience of locals, but at others, he presupposes an audience unfamiliar with Chester.
I’m more inclined to see the text as hortatory rather than polemical. Since Lucian is generally so inclusive in his treatment of religious houses of different orders (secular canons, Augustinians etc), there are few conceivable targets for the polemic. The earl perhaps, or maybe the Bishop of Coventry?
There can be little argument that it’s a very curious and intriguing text.