Selected works of Ramón Llull (1232-1316)

Llull was one of the originators of Catalan literary prose, and wrote what was an important literary precursor of the novel. In this work of profound and devoted scholarship, Bonner makes available to the non-Latin reader a selection of Ram;on Llull's medieval writings, providing an accurate picture of Llull's system and his place in the history of Western thought and literature. Of the six works anthologized, none (with the exception of a small portion of Felix), has ever been Englished. With Llull there is a core about which all of his works (almost 300!) swing: this is the so-called Art upon which his fame in the Renaissance was grounded. The Art, which Llull believed was given him by God, is a system that serves as central to the organization of all other knowledge and provides the backbone of all of Llull's thought. Appropriately, the Art has been selected by Bonner as the basis for his anthology. The selections include principal works from each of the two phases of the development of the Art: the Ars demonstrativa and the Ars brevis. Bonner includes a splendid translation of Llull's Felix. Bonner's informative, three-part introduction, which precedes the six works themselves, contains, first, a translation of Llull's autobiographical Contemporary Life to which Bonner adds an enlightening commentary and notes; second, an essay tracing the major aspects of Llull's thought and system; and third, a discussion of the influence of Llull's thought. Bonner's excellent work deserves a place in every library that wishes to enrich its medieval collection.-H. Shapiro, San Jose State University