The Cloud of Unknowing: a rhetorical 'how-to' manual for contemplative practice

我的研究将把《无知之云》及其相关论文作为一本高度复杂的修辞学指导手册，作为沉思实践的实用指南。我的项目将探索云作者与他继承的修辞传统的接触，他与学术思想的联系，以及他从当代沉思作家那里汲取的影响，以语境化和深化我们对他复杂语言和风格的理解。我将把他的作品与古代晚期的修辞学家进行比较，如奥古斯丁，学术作家包括托马斯·阿奎那和圣维克多的休，以及有影响力的修行者，如圣维克多的理查德和托马斯·加卢斯，以扩大我对他的冥想实践方法本身的理解，以及它在语言中的表达。我的项目将探索支撑他思想的神学原则，以及他对理智主义的态度。我想说的是，尽管他讨论的材料在语言和神学上都很困难，但他的实用主义、说教式的教学方法旨在澄清而不是神秘化，他的文本因此是一本冥想练习的“如何”手册。我希望通过探索读者对他的文本的接受程度，以及这在多大程度上符合我提出的阅读方式，来支持这一观点。

My research will investigate The Cloud of Unknowing and its related treatises as a highly sophisticated rhetoricalinstruction manual that functions as a practical guide to the practice of contemplation. My project will explore the Cloudauthor's engagement with his inherited rhetorical tradition, his connection with scholastic thought, and the influence hedraws from contemporary contemplative writers, to contextualize and deepen our understanding of his complex languageand style. I will compare his work with rhetoricians of late antiquity, such as Augustine, scholastic writers includingThomas Aquinas and Hugh of St Victor, and influential contemplatives such as Richard of St Victor and Thomas Gallus,to broaden my understanding of his approach to contemplative practice itself, and its articulation in language. My projectwill explore the theological principles that underpin his ideas, along with his attitude towards intellectualism. I will suggestthat his pragmatic, preachily approach to teaching aims to clarify rather than mystify, in spite of the linguistically andtheologically difficult material he discusses, and his that his texts are thus a 'how-to' manual for contemplative practice. Ihope to support this idea by exploring reader reception of his texts, and the extent to which this is in line with the readingI propose.