Doctor Illuminatus: A Ramon Llull Reader

Description

For this new anthology, Anthony Bonner has chosen central texts from his two-volume compilation, "Selected Works of Ramon Llull". These works serve as an introduction to the life and writings of the Catalan (properly, Majorcan) philosopher and mystic, theologian, and martyr, who lived from 1232 to 1316. Founder of a school of Arabic and other languages, Llull was also a poet and novelist and one of the creators of literary Catalan. This volume contains prefaces on Llull's life, thought and reputation. Of Llull's works, it offers "Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men", his seminal Christian apology; the "Ars brevis", a summary of his philosophical system; "The Book of the Lover and the Beloved", a celebration of mystical love in the courtly tradition; and his scathing "Book of the Beasts", an excerpt from a narrative widely acknowledged to be the source of George Orwell's imagery in "Animal Farm".

Among Anthony Bonner's previously published translations are The Complete Works of Francois Villon (David McKay/Bantam), Songs of the Troubadours (Schocken/Allen and Unwin), and the Catalan novel By Nature Equal by J. M. Espinas (Pantheon). Bonner and his wife, Eve Bonner, live in Majorca.

"A new collection of writings extracted from the two-volume compilation of the Catalan philosopher, mystic, and martyr, who lived from 1232 to 1316."--Parabola