{"product_id":"strategies-of-the-silent-in-edwin-d-craun-9780271099910","title":"Strategies of the Silent in Medieval English Literature","description":"\u003cp\u003eSilence, like speech, is a mode of communication that can be used strategically. In \u003ci\u003eStrategies of the Silent in Medieval English Literature\u003c\/i\u003e, Edwin D. Craun investigates the silences in public life that punctuate talk in late Middle English literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCentering his study on readings of canonical texts, including the works of Thomas Hoccleve, the anonymous \u003ci\u003eMum and the Sothsegger\u003c\/i\u003e, William Langland's \u003ci\u003ePiers Plowman\u003c\/i\u003e, John Lydgate's translation of Guillaume de Deguileville's \u003ci\u003ePelerinage de vie humaine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The Testimony of William Thorpe\u003c\/i\u003e, a selection of the York cycle of passion plays, and \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Margery Kempes\u003c\/i\u003e, Craun recovers the widespread moral discourse on silence developed by late medieval secular and clerical writers, who compiled materials from Roman popular morality, Stoicism, Jewish wisdom books, and Christian texts. These texts model how silence could play a role in effective government, respond to violent and angry antagonists, or in some cases to entirely obviate a good outcome. Through this nuanced exploration of the ethics of communication in medieval moral, narrative, and dramatic literature, Craun shows us that public silences, then as now, have strategies and consequences, dimensions that medieval imaginative writers explore subtly yet analytically in order to provoke ethical reflection and pragmatic action. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eStrategies of the Silent in Medieval English Literature\u003c\/i\u003e offers original thematical and rhetorical insights into the written history of silence. It will appeal to scholars, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates interested in Middle English literature, history, and political thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Edwin D. Craun\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0271099917\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780271099910\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penn State University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/09\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 210\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.07lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.79d","brand":"Edwin D. Craun","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46880904741119,"sku":"9780271099910","price":124.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c97826a7-41c5-4871-893d-826c834734b2.jpg?v=1747970074","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/strategies-of-the-silent-in-edwin-d-craun-9780271099910","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}