O imaginário medieval: uma leitura de Jacques Le Goff

Abstract

The following work has the goal of analyzing the concept of “Medieval Imaginary” developed by Jaqques Le Goff(1924-2014).The author didn’t define clearly the concept,although,the exegetical study of his works allows us to understand the collective imaginary as part of the capacity for social representation,events or phenomena through symbols,rites and concepts.However,it is also the sensibilities that these symbols and practices ritualized by society that provoke in individuals,in this sense the collective imaginary is unconsciously conditioned to the automatisms of everyday life.For Le Goff the collective imaginary is the social specialty of each group of individuals in the Western Medieval the imaginary becomes a bridge between the real and the wonderful.The world of men is connected with the supernatural whether from a climb,by a breach in a cave and,or,by dreams.Under this prism,the medieval imaginary described by Le Goff is understood,in addition to the Manichean duality between good and evil,the profane and the sacred,contrasting with time-space,places of direct or indirect contact with the wonderful.Finally,the roads,forests,the sea,churches or monasteries are scenarios of miraculous events, or of contact with mythological beings.