Introduction

Introduction (XI-XXVIII)

Carmen Acevedo Butcher is a distinguished scholar in Middle English literature. As you read her translation, you can be assured that it’s trustworthy and exceptionally readable.  According  to many, her translation of The Cloud is the best ever published in modern English. 

     With a warm welcome, Butcher’s “Introduction” opens the door to the world of The Cloud, its author, historical context, and themes. As you read its seventeen pages, don’t worry if you do not recognize some or any of the names she mentions (for example, Walton Hilton, Dionysius the Areopagite, Teresa of Avila, and others). Simply be satisfied to get the overall drift of things. When you think something is important, underline or highlight it. Make notes in the margins where you have questions or don’t understand something. What you want to do is read so that you can raise questions and follow along as best you can. If you wish, you can raise your questions by entering them in the “comments” section at the bottom of each posting. Someone will come along and perhaps provide an answer.  And, of course, if you want to post observational comments, do that too.  With questions and comments, together we can learn from one another. 

     If you wish, let us know where you found something difficult to understand in the text.  Bring it to our attention in the comments section below. Then too, let us know where you read something that you found helpful. More than anything, come back next week ready for a good discussion, one you will enjoy.   

     You may not want to read all the pages in one sitting.  You may find it more rewarding to simply to read three or four pages carefully each day. As you go along, mark up your text. Let things soak in. Go over what you’ve read perhaps two or three times.  You may even wish to treat the text as sacred reading for lectio divina. However, you do your reading, read with the Holy Spirit. Jesus has promised that he will guide you into all truth, so don’t be afraid of new ideas, new ways of thinking, news ways of appreciating the contemplative life. Here are some things to consider: 

     As you read, you’ll notice that Butcher concludes the first paragraph of her Introduction with a footnote.  As Darrell Grizzel has noted,

One of the ‘hidden treasures’ of Butcher’s translation is the Notes section at the end of the book, which give us a wealth of insight into the text. She occasionally quotes the Middle English to show us the word-plays and other aspects of the original text, and she also includes references to Scripture and other writings to illuminate various passages of The Cloud. It’s definitely worth the trouble to flip to the back of the book to read the endnotes. 

It’s for this reason that you may wish to use two bookmarks as you work your way through The Cloud: one to mark where you are in the text itself, another to mark where you are in the sequence of “Notes” beginning on page 227.

   Butcher’s first note is especially interesting because it provides you with the first of her many references to the Middle English text she translates:

Patrick J. Gallacher, ed., The Cloud of Unknowing, TEAMS Middle English Text Series (Kalamazoo, Mich.:Western Michigan University Medieval Institute Publications, 1997).

Even if you’re not familiar with fourteenth-century Middle English, you may wish to visit the online transcription of the text to examine what Butcher refers to as “Gallacher” no less than sixteen times in the “Introduction.”  Here and there in this guide we will make reference to the original text.

     Obviously there’s much that can be discussed as you read and work through Butcher’s “Introduction” and the accompanying notes.  My advice is that you should not allow yourself to be overwhelmed.  As you read, think through, and discuss these first pages, simply do you best to answer in your own words the following five questions Butcher is especially concerned to answer:

1. Who is The Cloud ‘s unnamed author? What do we know about him?

2.  Under what circumstances and in what kind of world did Anonymous (as Butcher often refers to him) write?

3.  What is the "negative way" of talking about God?  Why do some people think positively about the negative way of talking about God?

4.  Why does Butcher say we may find a contemplative practice helpful?

5.  What is Butcher’s preferred way of translating?  Why does she prefer it?

If you wish, let us know where you find something difficult to understand in the text.  Bring it to our attention in the comments section below. Then too, let us know where you read something that you found helpful. More than anything, come back next week ready for a good discussion, one you will enjoy.  It will be a model of what we’ll be doing as we work through The Cloud.