Chasing the Pearl-Manuscript: Speculation, Shapes, Delight

By Arthur Bahr (University of Chicago Press, 2025). In this book, Bahr explores the four poems and 12 illustrations of the "Pearl-Manuscript," the only surviving medieval copy of two of the best-known Middle English poems: "Pearl" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." He explores how the physical manuscript enhances our perception of the poetry, drawing on recent technological advances that show it to be a more complex piece of material, visual, and textual art than previously understood. By connecting the manuscript's construction to the text's intricate language, Bahr suggests new ways to understand the power of poetry.