Books: How Loud Is the Sound of Silence? ; Silence and Sign Language in Medieval Monasticism the Cluniac Tradition Circa 900-1200ad by Scott G Bruce. Cambridge. Pounds 50.

Summary

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It was Petrarch who said: "To be yourself and to be with yourself, far from evil, not to be pushed, crowded or badgered and not to be forced to talk when you wish to remain silent is to be desired."

This remarkable book explores in extremely readable terms, the tradition and the rationale for silence in early medieval abbeys along with the need these disciplines created for a sign language in order to convey with some clarity the everyday and the mundane among the inmates.

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Extract

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Books: How Loud Is the Sound of Silence? ; Silence and Sign Language in Medieval Monasticism the Cluniac Tradition Circa 900-1200ad by Scott G Bruce. Cambridge. Pounds 50.

Non-verbal communication could be employed, it appears, in all kinds of ways, from the simple act of pointing during meals (somethin...

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