Earthly Gower: Transforming Geographical Texts and Images in the "Confessio Amantis" and "Vox Clamantis" Manuscripts

Author/Editor
Gerber, Amanda J.

Title
Earthly Gower: Transforming Geographical Texts and Images in the "Confessio Amantis" and "Vox Clamantis" Manuscripts

Published
Gerber, Amanda J. "Earthly Gower: Transforming Geographical Texts and Images in the Confessio Amantis and Vox Clamantis Manuscripts." In Martha Driver, Derek Pearsall, and R. F. Yeager, eds. John Gower in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. Publications of the John Gower Society, no. 14. Rochester, NY: Brewer, 2020. Pp. 89-112.

Review
Gerber describes her undertaking as follows: "This essay proposes that, in the process of using geographical locations to ground his narratives, Gower appropriates a skeptical tradition dating back to antiquity while also contributing a new sense of mythological meaning. As a result, Gower's comparatively limited interest in physical geography yields a relatively sophisticated interest in textual geography, resulting in exegetical approaches that generate multivalent readings of the historical events depicted within the 'Confessio' and the 'Vox Clamantis'" (90). Central to this undertaking is Gerber's discussion of the four Gower-as-archer-shooting-at-the-world illustrations that illuminate manuscripts of VC; she focuses specifically on the depicted worlds as versions of the "mappaemundi" that combine five-climate-zone and T-O (or "orbis terrarium") designs in different ways. The depictions are beautifully reproduced. Gerber analyzes details of three of the four orbs (the fourth is a near duplicate), arguing that their differences "illustrate the fluidity of geographical topics in the Middle Ages" and, in something of a leap, asserting that "the image of the terrestrial target introduces . . . the treatment of malleable geo-historical subjects" in VC (106). Earlier in the essay, Gerber cites Gower's reference to "Mappemounde" in CA 7.530 and argues that "Gower's uses of geographical references when constructing the historical narratives [in CA] indicates some awareness of the euhemeristic approach" to mythology, as when he attributes the "deified qualities" (94) of wind-god Aeolus to the fact his home island of Sicily is windy (CA 5.967-80), or when he presents Pluto as having a childhood and swearing by the rivers of hell in CA 5.1108-10--examples of how Gower follows euhemerists "to interpret ancient texts as literal ones" (93). Geography often figures in euhemeristic literalizations of myths as history, Gerber argues, and this "geo-historical exegetics" (91; quotation marks in original) is the common thread in her discussions of passages from CA, the archer illustrations, and passages from the VC. Gerber's essay is ambitious, introducing a new heuristic for Gower's geographical references and arguing that a skeptical yet flexible exegetical imagination underlies this heuristic. Yet this very capaciousness leads to some fuzziness--a key concept in her statement of goals above, "textual geography" [90], is never defined--, some conceptual leaps haunt her dense prose, and some avoidable errors lurk. For example, "vertical" should be "horizontal" twice in the discussion of the Laud "mappa mundi," where, also, it is air, not water, above the terrestrial building that, Gerber asserts tendentiously, "likely represents the Tower of London" (105). [MA. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.2]

Date
2020

Gower Subjects
Manuscripts and Textual Studies
Vox Clamantis
Confessio Amantis