Transmuting John Gower: Elias Ashmole's Hermetic Reading of Gower's Jason and the Golden Fleece.
- Author/Editor
- Runstedler, Curtis.
- Title
- Transmuting John Gower: Elias Ashmole's Hermetic Reading of Gower's Jason and the Golden Fleece.
- Published
- Runstedler, Curtis. "Transmuting John Gower: Elias Ashmole's Hermetic Reading of Gower's Jason and the Golden Fleece." Accessus: A Journal of Premodern Literature and New Media, 6.2 (2020): n.p.
- Review
- Through analyzing Elias Ashmole's annotations of Gower's text, Curtis Runstedler suggests that Elias Ashmole "argues for a hermetic reading of Gower's story of Jason and the Golden Fleece in Book V of the Confessio Amantis." Even though Runstedler admits that Gower was likely not a practicing alchemist, he details Ashmole's belief that Gower was, including Ashmole's evidence for such assertions. In particular, Runstedler investigates Ashmole's annotations of Jason and the Golden Fleece, asserting "there is genuine evidence for reading the story as an alchemical allegory, and moreover it connects to the Renaissance tradition of reading classical stories as alchemical as well as Genius's view of alchemy as an ideal form of human labor in Book IV of the 'Confessio Amantis'." He analyses Ashmole's alchemical reading of Jason and the Golden Fleece, demonstrating the hermetic aspects of the tale and providing insights into how Gower's tale may have been valued for its alchemical aspects in early modern England. Runstedler first discusses Ashmole's "Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum" and alchemy in Book IV of CA, concluding that Ashmole's annotations "reveal that Gower's alchemy was still valued, and moreover, he was considered a true adept." He compares the alchemical passages of Book IV of CA and Ashmole's annotations, asserting that there is enough evidence to read, like Ashmole, the tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece as hermetic. Reading this story as alchemical is part of a humanist tradition in late medieval and early modern period. Runstedler then proceeds to analyze the tale for alchemical implications, particularly in the character of Medea. He posits that reading the tale as an alchemical allegory presents the Golden Fleece as the Philosopher's Stone, and "Ashmole's reading of Gower's version is also noteworthy since he validates alchemical success with Jason's discovery of the Stone, yet it also provides a moral warning against alchemists in the 'Confessio Amantis'." Runstedler concludes, Ashmole "enhances the value of English alchemy and its literature for his audience. Ashmole suggests a reading where the Philosopher's Stone can be attained, if only for the alchemist to lose everything to his vices." [JGS. Copyright. The John Gower Society eJGN 40.1]
- Date
- 2020
- Gower Subjects
- Influence and Later Allusion
Confessio Amantis