During the period in which the essays in this volume were written a number of colleagues and friends have kindly offered me their advice on the material in the individual papers as well as on the organization of the book as a whole. I should like to thank Isabelle Bochet, the late Ralph Cohen, Édouard Jeauneau, Ilsetraut Hadot, the late Pierre Hadot, Brad Inwood, Maruja Jackman, Aviad Kleinberg, the late Goulven Madec, John Magee, Carlo Ossola, Willemien Otten, James C. Paupst, M.D., and Harald Weinrich.
I wish to express my gratitude to the Collège de France, the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, the Institut d’Études Avancées de Paris, and the Institut d’Études Augustiniennes for the support of my research over many years. I owe a special debt to the Maison Suger, FMSH, Paris, and to its director, Jean-Luc Lory, as well as to his capable associates, especially Mme. Nadia Cheniour. I have been assisted by the technical staff at Victoria College, University of Toronto, the Reference and Research Unit, Gerstein Science and Information Centre, University of Toronto Libraries, and Manda Vrkljan in the John Kelly Library, St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto. I have for many years profited from the the bibliographical skills of William Edwards in the library of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto. Two other institutions whose support I acknowledge are the American Academy in Rome, whose hospitality I have enjoyed on more than one occasion, and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome, without whose financial support neither this volume nor its predecessor, Augustine’s Inner Dialogue, could have been completed.
Some of the material in this book has appeared in an earlier form in the following publications and lectures:
“Vers un pluralisme interprétatif: Histoire littéraire et histoire de la lecture,” in La pluralité interprétative: Fondements historiques et cognitifs de la notion de point de vue, ed. Alain Berthoz, Carlo Ossola, and Brian Stock, Conférences du Collège de France (Paris: Collège de France, 2010), 9–25; published in English as “Toward Interpretive Pluralism: Literary History and the History of Reading,” New Literary History 39 (2008): 389–413.
“The Soliloquy: Transformations of an Ancient Philosophical Technique,” in Augustin philosophe et prédicateur: Hommage à Goulven Madec, Actes du Colloque International Organisé à Paris les 8 et 9 septembre 2011, ed. Isabelle Bochet, Collection des Études Augustiniennes, Série Antiquité 195 (Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 2012), 315–47; published in French as “Le soliloque: Transformations d’une technique philosophique antique,” Conférence 39 (2014): 371–472.
“Self, Soliloquy, and Spiritual Exercises in Augustine and Some Later Authors,” in the The Augustinian Moment, ed. Willemien Otten, Journal of Religion 91 (2011): 3–23.
“La cultura letteraria italiana e l’identità europea,” in La cultura letteraria italiana e l’identità europea, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Atti dei Convegni Lincei 170 (Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2001), 15–27; published in French as “Le Moyen Âge et l’identité européenne,” Conférence 15 (2002): 237–55.
“Il dilemma del lettore: Lettura ascetica e lettura estetica nella cultura occidentale,” in Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Fondo Antonio Feltrinellei, Adunanze Straodinarie per il Conferimento dei Premi A. Feltrinelli, vol. 4, fasc. 7 (Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2008), 183–95.
“De la réminiscence philosophique à la réminiscence littéraire: Sero te amavi, pulchritudo (Augustin, Conf., 10.27.38–10.29.40),” in Poésie, mémoire, et oubli: Colloque de la Fondation Hugot du Collège de France, ed. Yves Bonnefoy and Odile Bombarde, La conscience de soi de la poésie, Colloque de 1997 (Turin: Nino Aragno Editore, 2005), 105–20.
“Minds, Bodies, Readers,” The A. S. W. Rosenbach Lectures, University of Pennsylvania, 1999,” New Literary History 37 (2006): 489–501; published in French as “Le corps, l’esprit, et la lecture,” Conférence 13 (2001): 223–83.
“In Search of a Secular Spirituality,” lecture, Conference on Contemplative Practice in Higher Education, Amherst College, 9–11 May 2003.
“Contemplative Traditions in the Humanities and Medicine,” lecture, Alpert Medical School and Department of Religion, Brown University, 17 March 2011.
“Western Contemplative Traditions and Higher Education,” Master Lecture, Mind and Life Institute. International Symposia for Contemplative Studies, Denver, Colorado, 26–29 April 2012.