The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity

Abstract

This ambitious and vivid study in six volumes explores the journey of a single, electrifying story, from its first incarnation in a medieval French poem through its prolific rebirth in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Juggler of Notre Dame tells how an entertainer abandons the world to join a monastery, but is suspected of blasphemy after dancing his devotion before a statue of the Madonna in the crypt; he is saved when the statue, delighted by his skill, miraculously comes to life. Jan Ziolkowski tracks the poem from its medieval roots to its rediscovery in late nineteenth-century Paris, before its translation into English in Britain and the United States. The visual influence of the tale on Gothic revivalism and vice versa in America is carefully documented with lavish and inventive illustrations, and Ziolkowski concludes with an examination of the explosion of interest in The Juggler of Notre Dame in the twentieth century and its place in mass culture today. The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity is a rich case study for the reception of the Middle Ages in modernity. Spanning centuries and continents, the medieval period is understood through the lens of its (post)modern reception in Europe and America. Profound connections between the verbal and the visual are illustrated by a rich trove of images, including book illustrations, stained glass, postage stamps, architecture, and Christmas cards. Presented with great clarity and simplicity, Ziolkowski's work is accessible to the general reader, while its many new discoveries will be valuable to academics in such fields and disciplines as medieval studies, medievalism, philology, literary history, art history, folklore, performance studies, and reception studies.

“Holy Fools”: The Journey of Calling for Christian Variety Performers

“…There is little scholarly work that focuses on where Christian vocation and variety performance overlap. Ziolkowski's six-volume work (2018a, 2018b, 2018c, 2018d, 2018e, 2018f) is a remarkable example of such research. Ziolkowski, however, looks at vocation for the religious variety performer by exploring the history and development of one particular medieval story about a traveling juggler, the aforementioned The Juggler of Notre Dame .…”

“…It is a medieval tale of a juggler's struggle to please audiences and eventually the Virgin Mary with his talent. This legend has been told and retold in many cultures around the world, perhaps because it speaks so deeply to the layman's sense of worthlessness compared to the perceived spiritual value of priests and monks (Blechman, 2015; Cooney, 1961; dePaola, 1978; Griffith, 2003; Massenet, 1902; Ziolkowski, 2018e, pp. 193–246).…”

“…They observe the tumbler pouring himself out to the point of collapse. In some versions, the performer dies from exhaustion at the feet of Mary (Ziolkowski, 2018a, p. 21, 2018e, p. 210). Suddenly, the statue of Mary comes to life.…”

The Intersection of Collegiate Gothic Architecture and Missionary Education: A Case Study of Anderson Hall at Soochow University

“…This architectural style, marked by an enduring association with religion since its inception, is notably characterized by the architectural model of "introspective enclosed courts", which has persisted within Oxford and Cambridge universities in England since the 14th century [1]. Scholars attribute the origins of the Collegiate Gothic style to these universities, emphasizing its role in representing a venerable academic lineage [2,3].…”