Inventio meditativa

The present volume develops a new conceptual perspective on late-medieval meditation, particularly in Hugh of Saint-Victor, Guigo II, and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. For the most part, modern commentaries on the subject have relegated rhetoric to the margins of attention, if not to complete silence. In contrast, this book contends that these writers arrived at their distinctive conceptions of meditation by drawing from the Ciceronian rhetorical tradition. They did so by deepening earlier rhetorical treatments of inventio while adapting them to the Christian life. The examination of this topic is divided into three principal and related aspects. First, meditation is studied as a rhetorical notion for a specific kind of mnemonic, rational, and affective exercise. Second, that notion is used to shed light on meditation as a compositional textual practice whose outcomes bear striking analogy to what Umberto Eco called the ‘open works’ of the Western avant-garde. Finally, meditation emerges as a form of literary reception required for approaching and construing certain works. In exploring each of these aspects, the study shows that rhetoric radically informs, not only Hugh’s, Guigo’s, and Bonaventure’s engagement with meditation, but also their views on salvation history, monastic life, divine revelation, scientific learning, and biblical hermeneutics. Thus, despite the omission or relative insignificance of the ars bene dicendi in most modern investigations, it is argued that rhetoric lies at the core of these authors’ entire religious outlook. In this way, the present volume aims to contribute to a better understanding of these medieval figures by filling an important gap in the scholarly literature.