Dreaming of Cockaigne : medieval fantasies of the perfect life /
"Imagine a dreamland where roasted pigs wander about with knives in their backs to make carving easy, where grilled geese fly directly into one's mouth, where cooked fish jump out of the water and land at one's feet. The weather is always mild, the wine flows freely, sex is readily av...
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| Uniform title: | Dromen van Cocagne. |
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| Author / Creator: | |
| Other Authors / Creators: | Webb, Diane, translator. |
| Format: | eBook Electronic |
| Language: | English Dutch |
| Language notes: | Translated from Dutch. |
| Imprint: | New York : Columbia University Press, [2001] |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Click here for full text at JSTOR |
| Summary: | "Imagine a dreamland where roasted pigs wander about with knives in their backs to make carving easy, where grilled geese fly directly into one's mouth, where cooked fish jump out of the water and land at one's feet. The weather is always mild, the wine flows freely, sex is readily available, and all people enjoy eternal youth. Such is Cockaigne. Portrayed in legend, oral history, and art, this imaginary land became the most pervasive collective dream of medieval times--an earthly paradise that served to counter the suffering and frustration of daily existence and to allay anxieties about an increasingly elusive heavenly paradise. Illustrated with extraordinary artwork from the Middle Ages, Herman Pleij's Dreaming of Cockaigne is a spirited account of this lost paradise and the world that brought it to life. Pleij takes three important texts as his starting points for an inspired of the panorama of ideas, dreams, popular religion, and literary and artistic creation present in the late Middle Ages. What emerges is a well-defined picture of the era, furnished with a wealth of detail from all of Europe, as well as Asia and America."-- No detailed description available for "Dreaming of Cockaigne". |
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| Item Description: | Print version record. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (ix, 533 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 489-514) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780231529211 023152921X |
| Author Notes: |