ABSTRACT
The identification of tropes is the beginning of a process that would map out various ways the Middle Ages figured the experiences of selfhood. The ascribing of particular passages to particular tropes helps to plot the subtle and varied medieval conceptions of subjectivity—as well as to be much more specific about changes in these conceptions over time. A “synchronic” project like the would stand to reveal the rich array of medieval conceptions of self at play all at once in a single “slice of time.” The dissertation lays the groundwork for a more informed, sustained, and careful examination of threads of thought in works as varied as those of medieval theology, philosophy, physical science, medicine, schools, art, historiography, and literature—in all the areas of medieval culture, in short, where selves took shape.
