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Machines of the Mind persuades its readers to think more systematically about the types and uses of personification. Breen clears away some forty years of confusion about medieval philosophical positions on realism and so-called nominalism, clearly differentiating them from the postmodern nominalism of twentieth-century high theory and imaginatively reconsidering their implications for literary representation. Her schema will allow future scholars to differentiate Platonic, Neoplatonic, moderate realist, and nominalist strategies for personification while also recognizing that many medieval works may employ multiple types at once. This book will remain a reference point for many years to come. --Fiona Somerset, author of Feeling like Saints: Lollard Writings after Wyclif

Machines of the Mind persuades its readers to think more systematically about the types and uses of personification. Breen clears away some forty years of confusion about medieval philosophical positions on realism and so-called nominalism, clearly differentiating them from the postmodern nominalism of twentieth-century high theory and imaginatively reconsidering their implications for literary representation. Her schema will allow future scholars to differentiate Platonic, Neoplatonic, moderate realist, and nominalist strategies for personification while also recognizing that many medieval works may employ multiple types at once. This book will remain a reference point for many years to come. -- Fiona Somerset, author of Feeling like Saints: Lollard Writings after Wyclif

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Katharine Breen is associate professor of English at Northwestern University. She is the author of Imagining an English Reading Public, 1150-1400, and her essays and articles have appeared in such publications as Representations, Journal of Church History, Chaucer Review, Review of English Studies, Speculum, and New Medieval Literatures, among others. She is a coeditor of the Yearbook of Langland Studies.  

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