The art of memory

**A revolutionary book about mnemonic techniques, and their relation to the history of philosophy, science, and literature** The ancient Greeks, to whom a trained memory was of vital importance—as it was to everyone before the invention of printing—created an elaborate memory system, based on a technique of impressing "places" and "images" on the mind. Inherited and recorded by the Romans, this art of memory passed into the European tradition, to be revived, in occult form, at the Renaissance, and particularly by the strange and remarkable genius, Giordano Bruno. Such is the main theme of Frances Yates's unique and distinctive book, in the course of which she sheds light on such diverse subjects as Dante's __Divine Comedy__, the form of the Shakespearian theater, and the history of ancient architecture. Aside from its intrinsic fascination, this book is an invaluable contribution to aesthetics and psychology, and to the history of philosophy, of science, and of literature Cover 1 Half-title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Original Title Page 8 Original Copyright Page 9 Table of Contents 10 Illustrations 12 Preface 16 I. The Three Latin Sources for the Classical Art of Memory 22 II. The Art of Memory in Greece: Memory and the Soul 48 III. The Art of Memory in the Middle Ages 71 IV. Mediaeval Memory and the Formation of Imagery 105 V. The Memory Treatises 130 VI. Renaissance Memory: The Memory Theatre of Giulio Camillo 157 VII. Camillo's Theatre and the Venetian Renaissance 193 VIII. Lullism as an Art of Memory 206 IX. Giordano Bruno: The Secret of Shadows 234 X. Ramism as an Art of Memory 268 XI. Giordano Bruno: The Secret of Seals 280 XII. Conflict between Brunian and Ramist Memory 303 XIII. Giordano Bruno: Last Works on Memory 324 XIV. The Art of Memory and Bruno's Italian Dialogues 345 XV. The Theatre Memory System of Robert Fludd 357 XVI. Fludd's Memory Theatre and the Globe Theatre 385 XVII. The Art of Memory and the Growth of Scientific Method 413 Index 435 Overview: One of Modern Library's 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century. In this classic study of how people learned to retain vast stores of knowledge before the invention of the printed page, Frances A. Yates traces the art of memory from its treatment by Greek orators, through its Gothic transformations in the Middle Ages, to the occult forms it took in the Renaissance, and finally to its use in the seventeenth century. This book, the first to relate the art of memory to the history of culture as a whole, was revolutionary when it first appeared and continues to mesmerize readers with its lucid and revelatory insights.