An Introduction to Venantius Fortunatus for Schoolchildren: Or Understanding the Medieval Concept of World through Metonymy

Poetry. Translation & Translation Studies. Classics. Collage. "From beginning to end, this is a book of telling contrasts between vastly different sensibilities, values, beliefs, customs, and modes of expressing and interacting with the world. This much one might expect from a book of translated poetry by a forgotten medieval saint. That it should, at least indirectly, critique the crass materialism of contemporary middle- class life might also not be terribly surprising. What, after all, could show more profoundly our weddedness to things than prayerful rumination on the immaterial spirit? That it should be hilarious and marvelously irreverent in achieving all of this is its greatest virtue, better even than a DeLonghi sandwich maker. Compare and contrast."—Russell Valentino